


Eden

by Constance_Lirit



Series: Girls of Konoha [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Chuunins, F/M, Foreplay, Leaf Village - Freeform, Masterbation, Ninneko, Ninneko (cats) - Freeform, References to TV and Film (e.g Trolls), Sand Village - Freeform, Sex, Singing, Sound Four - Freeform, Sound Village, sexual contact, song-fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 20:43:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 49,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10499106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Constance_Lirit/pseuds/Constance_Lirit
Summary: Kumi, a civilian of Konoha, leaves the safety of the Sand Village to go watch Gaara compete in the Chuunins. All turns sour, however, when the Senju inevitably learns why her mother always told her to never leave the safety of the village. How will she cope in a world she was brought up to avoid?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING #1: This story is complete but has a cliff-hanger ending. My intention is to merge this story with my on-going fanfiction 'Quitters Never Win.'  
> WARNING #2: This story involves singing from the get-go.  
> WARNING #3: This story involves sex / sexual contact / sexual themes / themes which delve into the realms of cheating.

With the Chuunins around the corner Kumi had left the Sand Village for the first time in her life to go cheer on Gaara, a look of eagerness plastered firmly on her face as she walked across the dunes on her own. Gaara, as well as his siblings and her own mother, had no idea she had left however. Prior to this they had been constantly telling her there was nothing outside the village worth seeing, especially when you were nothing more than a civilian with no defensive training or knowledge of ninjutsu. Of course, Kumi had always felt they over-exaggerated the dangers, plenty of travellers had come to and from the village unharmed and they had things of worth to steal, she was one lone woman with a small bag.  
Nonetheless the young Senju had heeded some of the advice given to her and had brought water, a change of clothes, bandages, disinfectant spray, and a set of kunai and shurikens that Gaara had forgot at her place. With little to no winds in the desert today the young woman calmly wandered through the desert heat in nothing more than her long kimono and a large, hand woven sun-hat.  
“I really hope I can do it 'cause Gaara's depending on me. I know that I must leave the only home  
I’ve ever known and brave the dangers of the desert, getting to there before I'm eaten. I mean, how hard can that be?” Kumi began to sing, picking up the pace.

Entering the Country of Rivers that morning the young Senju looked around at all the trees and fields of grass, all of which seemed far grander in person than what she had seen in photos and painted herself back home.  
“ _Looking up at a sunny sky, so shiny and blue and there's a butterfly. Well, isn’t that a super fantastic sign it’s gonna be a fantastic day! Such marvellousness it’s gonna bring, gotta pocket full of songs that I’m gonna sing and I’m ready to take on anything. Hooray_!” she chirped, spotting a sign which stated she was only eighty miles from the Fire Country boarder.  
“Some super fun surprise around each corner.” she sang as she crossed a rope bridge which hung suspended over a five-hundred foot drop. “ _Just riding on a rainbow, I’m gonna be okay_!” she continued, getting to the other side before the rope snapped and the bridge started to fall, she, however, did not notice and continued down the dirt path. “ _Hey! I’m not giving up today, there's nothing getting in my way, and if you knock me over I will get back up again_.” Kumi continued, crossing small bridges and jumping brooks. “ _Oh! If something goes a little wrong, well you can go ahead and bring it on!_ ” Kumi then chanted, being chased through the forest by a boar twice her size just over the Fire Country boarder.

Breaking through the thicket into a clearing Kumi skidded to a halt at a steep hill, her tense expression relaxing when she realised she was neither falling or being chased any more.  
“ _Woah, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, get back up again_!” she continued, lifting a leg with a grin to walk leisurely down the hill before then finding herself being catapulted down it instead when the boar came bursting out through the bushes and headbutted her in the ass. “Woah! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!” she protested being lifted up into the air before falling back down onto her ass to go summer-salting down the steep slant. Managing to somehow correct herself Kumi looked around before seeing the boar was skidding down on its haunches after her. “Ahhhh!” she shouted, getting to the bottom to stumble to her feet and keep on running.  
Hiding behind a rock the boar went thundering past, allowing her to take a breath and eventually come out to see where she was. To her glee she was now only thirty more miles from the Hidden Leaf Village, things were looking up.  
“ _I’m marching along, I've got confidence. I'm cooler than a pack of peppermints and I haven't been this excited since_ -” Kumi went on, continuing down the path before flinching when the boar came hurtling out through the trees onto the path, skid on its back-legs as it turned to face her and charged towards her. “ _I can't remember when_!” she shouted, thundering off to keep her distance from it.

This boar really did not like her as it had been chasing her for miles now.  
“ _I'm off on this remarkable adventure, just riding on a rainbow_.” she sang, jumping off of a bridge onto a log that was floating down river to narrowly avoid being bitten by the beast. “ _What if it's all a big mistake_?” she then uttered, turning to look at the boar as it squealed and snorted at her from the bridge. “ _What if it's more than I can take_?” she questioned, turning to see where she was going before realising she was nearing the river's rapids. “ _No! I can't think that way 'cause I know that I’m_ -” she shouted, going over the edge and hitting the fast flowing water. “ _really, really, really_ -” Kumi screamed, going from left to right to avoid smashing into the rocks as she went, finally losing her hat in the process. “ _gonna be okay_!” she gasped, bursting out of the water at the bottom and dragging herself onto land.  
Making sure she was all in one piece Kumi began to wander through the trees, hoping to find the path again before it got dark and not either that same boar or more boars.  
_“I’m not giving up today, there's nothing getting in my way_.” she whispered as she walked through the night, her eyes darting about as she made sure nothing was around her. “ _And if you knock me over I will get back up again_.” she chattered, rubbing her arms as she sat in a cave to allow herself to rest.  
“Oh! If something goes a little wrong, well you can go ahead and bring it on 'cause if you knock knock me over, I will get back up again.” the young Senju uttered, finally nearing the town she had come all this way to see.

Stopping at the gates, now an absolute mess Kumi took out her passport to show them it.  
“Sorry, it got a little... wet.” she apologised, shaking it before looking into her bag with a frown. Whilst they checked her credentials the young woman pulled everything out of her bag and turned it upside down, dumping sand, water and a fish right out onto the path near the guard post.  
“Hm...” she spoke, picking the flapping fish up. “Guess I can have this for dinner.” she mumbled, putting it back into her bag with the rest of her things before taking back her passport and being allowed entry into the city. It was certainly a lot different from the Sand Village anyway, there were trees, gardens and fountains everywhere, even the pathways were clean, back home there was dust and desert sand everywhere, as well as the occasional tumble weed. Why on earth her mother had moved all the way from the scenic landscapes of the Fire Country to the desolate and boring ridges of the Wind Country was beyond her.

Wandering the streets to look at all the amazing sights Kumi did not particularly notice the numerous people staring at her as she went, it was no surprise people were looking at her of course. There were reeds woven through her white hair, a fish in her bag and her kimono was a state, the muddy skid-mark that ran right up her legs, bum and back did not help. She had no real idea how bad she looked until she stopped in front of a flower shop to admire the lilies only to then look up into her refection and recoil in shock when she thought there was a kappa staring back at her.  
“Is that me?” she quietly questioned, relaxing for a moment.  
“Are you okay?” an elderly voice asked, gaining her attention.  
“Huh?” she questioned looking down at an old, hunched over man.  
“Cat demon, cat demons!” he suddenly shouted after taking a moment to look at her closed eyes and permanent smile.  
“Hey, quit that; I'm not a demon.” she protested, being hit several times by his walking stick before she finally grabbed it out of frustration and snapped it over her leg.

Stood there the old man stared at her as she handed back his walking cane.  
“Don't hit people like that.” she told him off, the curled edges of her lips flattening.  
“My cane, that was a family heirloom.” he mourned, to which she began to feel guilty. Perhaps she had gone a little too far, she should have just walked away from him.  
“A geez...” she spoke, taking the cane off of him, albeit after a bit of a tussle, before slotting both broken ends of the shaft together. Closing her eyes she then began to concentrated, the wood slowly growing out and forming back together with the other end. Beside her, and inside the shop, the flowers had began to rise upwards as she fixed his cane, while the owner, who was stood inside, noticed this and look around in confusion at all of her bouquets before looking outside at Kumi.

Confused she had come outside to see what the girl was doing to make her flowers rise up like that, only to see she had just about finished fixing the man's walking stick. Handing it back to him the old man stared at it for a moment, it was as if it had just been bought.  
“There, I fixed your stick.” she stated, leaning over with her hands on her hips. “What do we say now?” she then asked, expecting an apology. The only thing she got, however, was a stick smacked right onto the top of her forehead, causing her to straighten up and clutch her head as he staggered off.  
“Children these days! Running around breaking things like they own the place!” he went off shouting to no one in particular, her eyebrows remaining furrowed together as she watched him.  
“Are you alright?” the regal woman asked, having watched a small part of the woman's misfortune.  
“Oh, yes, I'm fine.” Kumi replied, putting her arms down.  
“What you did with that man's cane was quite impressive.” she admitted, looking down at her flowers to see they had gone back to normal.  
“Oh, that was quite easy in comparison to what I have to do back home. People come to me with their puppets all the time.” the young Senju uttered, wiping her sweating brow.

Thereafter the brunette woman scanned her for a moment, clearly misfortune had followed this woman around like a moth to a flame as of recent.  
“Are you here for the Chuunins?” she asked, able to tell instantly she was a visitor.  
“Oh, no, I'm not a nin. I came here to cheer on my boyfriend.” Kumi explained, glancing at the flowers again.  
“Do you like my lilies?” she enquired, seeing that look of fascination in her face.  
“Yes, they're very nice lilies. Back home it's really hard to grow flowers, I keep cacti mostly since they do really well in the dry climate.” the young Senju explained, wishing she could grow something like this in her house without constant management.  
“I see, that's quite the shame. I assume you are from the Sand Village?” the brunette asked, looking past the young woman to see her daughter coming this way.  
“Yeah, was it obvious?” Kumi questioned curiously.  
“There is only one place dry enough that a lily can't grow.” she answered, greeting Ino with a smile.  
“Back for dinner, dear?” she enquired, whilst her daughter just stared at Kumi for a moment.

After a good few seconds of observation she soon spoke.  
“Did something happen?” she asked, looking at her mother with concern.  
“Oh, no dear. I'm not quite sure why our guest here is in quite a state.” she admitted, having not gotten round to really asking.  
“I was chased by a boar on my way here.” Kumi revealed, rubbing the back of her head before frowning and pulling one of the reeds out from within her locks only to look at it with displeasure.  
“I can't quite tell if luck is on your side or not today.” Ino's mother responded, finally raising a delicate finger. “If you go down that road you'll find an inn, you can clean yourself up there.” she informed her, to which Kumi let her lips curl up a little.  
“Oh, great. Thanks.” she spoke, waving to them before she turned to go in search of the inn.  
“Oh my.” the brunette gasped, now able to see the massive muddy skid-mark up her back.  
“Was she another genin?” Ino enquired, to which her mother shook her head as they went inside.  
“No, just a very strange, unlucky individual.” she answered simply, glad she had not invited the girl inside to trek dirt all around the shop and house after seeing the state of her from the back.

Finding the hotel Kumi booked herself in and went to her room, promising she would clean up any dirt she left after she was no longer covered in it herself. The room was small and simple, but then that was all she needed if she was only going to be staying here a couple of days. Having a much needed shower the young woman mourned the loss of her favourite sun-hat and put on a plain kimono that the staff had allowed her to borrow until she washed and dried the ones she had brought with her. Sitting out in the sun once her clothes had been cleaned, and she had sorted out the mess she had made on the way to her hotel room, Kumi sat holding her dress.  
Slowly she would slide it down her legs, fixing the tears and gashes as she went. She had not noticed someone watching her at first, at least not until they spoke.  
“How are you doing that?” the kid asked, his eyes wide with curiosity.  
“Doing that?” Kumi replied, having been concentrating so hard on her work she had shut out everything else.  
“You fixed it just by touching it.” he reiterated, leaning on his tiptoes to get a better look.  
“Oh, this kimono is made from banana fibres, so I can fix it without needles.” she explained, continuing to work in such a way that he could watch.

After she had completely fixed the kimono Kumi stood up and then shook it a little to make sure everything was in order, the boy, who had still not left her side, still watching with great curiosity.  
“See, all fixed.” she stated, showing him the now perfect dress.  
“Can you fix my shoe?” he asked, taking it off to stand on his bare foot. Humming she sat down and took it from him to look at, she was not entirely sure whether she could fix it or not.  
“What's the heel made of?” she asked, to which he blinked and looked skywards for a moment as if the clouds would shape an answer.  
“Rubber, I think.” he finally replied, being handed back his shoe that was now fixed. “No way!” he gasped, looking at it all over, the hole was gone and the treads that he had worn in were practically brand new again.  
“Rubber comes from trees.” she stated simply, getting to her feet to go back inside and put the chair back in the lobby. “Try not ruin your shoes too fast.” she added, waving to him before vanishing inside. Blinking the boy put his shoe back on and went off running, his little sister was going to be so happy when he told her about that woman and her magic powers.

Having washed and handed back in the plain kimono they had let her borrow Kumi thanked them and decided to go for another walk around the village, hopefully she could find a nice little cafe here to have a drink in, and this time she might even get to drink all of it without sand falling into the cup. Wandering about the young woman paused to look at the dresses in a shop window, one in particular she liked the look of was a white one with a red flower that splashed out across the hip. It was certainly very rare to see a kimono that, when it did have print on it, did not have the print all over the dress instead of in one place. She had never been a fan of having print all over the dress and therefore, for the most part, had to wear simple, one-coloured kimonos.  
Continuing on Kumi spotted the cafe and headed over to buy something to drink before sitting down on a bench in front of a small field, this place was certainly quiet despite its size and scenic environment, she had always imagined everyone would be out enjoying the lovely weather. Hearing a strange noise the young woman looked around for a moment before looking down at a fairly large cat, rubbing around her shins it meowed at her.  
“...Cat” she spoke after a small pause, reaching down carefully to start petting it.

At first she hesitated, she had never actually seen a cat in person, anyone who owned one kept them indoors because of the weather, and anyone who bought one had to have it imported from other villages and shipped to their door if they could not travel to pick it up themselves.  
“Nice... kitty...” she murmured, tapping it on top of the head gently. Hearing a dog bark the cat seemed to go hurtling off after that, leaving Kumi mildly confused as she sat up straight again and watched it jump a near-impossible fence and disappear into a garden, only to claw its way back out as a dog started barking and jumping up at it from the other side. “Oh dear...” she commented, hoping she had not just passed her streak of bad luck onto the cat.  
“Kumi?” she heard a familiar voice question, gaining her attention.  
“Temari!” the young Senju stated, getting to her feet to greet her.  
“What are you doing here?” she asked, utterly bewildered.  
“I came to watch the Chuunins.” she stated, smiling brightly.  
“But... you're not supposed to be here.” the blonde uttered, very perplexed as to who had brought her here.

Slowly Kumi's smile faded, even Temari was against her leaving the village?  
“It's only for the Chuunins, I thought it'd be nice to watch Gaara fight. I'm sure he'd like someone cheering him on.” the young woman explained, though it did not make her look any less displeased.  
“How did you get here though? Is someone watching you while you're here?” she asked, hoping Kumi had at least employed a bodyguard or something.  
“Oh... no, I'm here on my own.” she admitted carefully, only making Temari blow up at her finally.  
“You came all this way alone?!” the young genin snapped, furrowing her brow.  
“I'm fine though, look at me!” Kumi complained. “I got here all on my own, I never met a single person on the way here.” she continued, about to tell her about the boar she did meet but bit her tongue. That would have only made the situation worse.  
“And hopefully you don't meet a single person on the way back because you're not staying here. Gaara, myself and Kankuro are too busy with the Chuunins to keep an eye on you, you could have watched the fight on the television.” Temari continued to tell her off, however it only made Kumi frown more.  
“I came all this way already, I might as well stay and watch.” the young woman answered stubbornly. “Besides, this place has ANBU and nin protecting the villagers, I'm safe here as long as I don't leave the village.” Kumi tried to argue.

Blowing hot hair Temari took a moment to think, maybe she could employ someone to tie Kumi up and drag her back to the Sand Village.  
“Okay, fine.” she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose that sat between her eyes. “But you do not leave the village under any circumstances.” she stated firmly.  
“I wont leave the village, I promise. I booked myself into a hotel across town and plan on just spending the next few weeks here as a little break. I'm not here to bother any of you, I hadn't even planned on seeing any of you until you were back in the village.” Kumi promised and admitted. “I know how important this is for the village, so I just wanted to watch in secret.” she continued before frowning a little again. “Actually, can we keep this a secret? I don't think Gaara-” the young Senju then went on to request, pausing when someone cut her off.  
“Think what?” Gaara asked in his usual icy tone, watching her turn around sharply to look at him.  
“Oh geez.” Temari groaned, covering her face.  
“Gaara!” Kumi greeted him, trying to feign immediate joy.  
“What are you doing here?” the redhead asked, his sea-foam coloured eyes as dull as ever.  
“I uh... Came here for a few weeks to work, it just happened to be this village...” she lied painfully, looking anywhere but in his eyes.

Spotting the old man from before she pointed to him.  
“Like that man right there, just this morning he broke his walking stick and I helped fix it.” she stated, which was not a whole stretch from the truth.  
“You again, you little whipper snapper, in my day-” he went to protest at her, being quickly turned around as she tried to rush him off.  
“Ah yes, yes, I recognise you too! I just finished fixing a woman's kimono and was about to come help you with your patio!” she exclaimed, guffawing stiffly. “I'll see you guys during the final round of the Chuunins, good luck!” she then shouted back at them, rushing the old man off his feet to escape.  
“... She sneaked out of the village alone, came here and thought we wouldn't notice, didn't she?” Gaara asked simply, watching her trying to avoid being hit by the old man, who was now even angrier than before.  
“... Yes.” Temari answered with a defeated sigh, having considered going along with Kumi's lie for half a second before thinking better of it.

Managing to get him around the corner Kumi finally stopped shoving him and sighed, flinching when he hit her over the head with his cane.  
“I should have you exorcised, cat demon.” the old man protested, whilst she just frowned at him as she rubbed the top of her head. No, she definitely had not past her bad luck onto that cat. Letting out a deep sigh Kumi straightened up her posture and glanced back around the corner to look at Gaara whilst the old man continued to shout at her and shake his stick, the group were still standing there chatting before, finally, heading off in the opposite direction. Great, now Gaara was no doubt going to have stern words with her later on when they were back in the village.  
“Listen to your elders when they're talking!” the old man snapped, hitting her in the shin.  
“I'm going to break that walking stick of yours again if you don't stop that.” she huffed, reaching to take it before he drew it away from her and turned his body slightly like a squirrel.  
“Is everything alright here?” a new voice questioned, gaining both of their attentions.

Letting her face screw up a little out of shock Kumi stared at him, what was with that hair cut?  
“This cat demon is bothering me!” the old man protested, while her face turned from screwed up shock to anger.  
“You're the one smacking me with your cane!” she protested with her lips pursed as if his words were so sour they had made her suck them both in together.  
“I'm sure this whole issue can be resolved with a friendly handshake.” the green jump-suit wearing teen stated, lifting his hand to give them a thumbs up. Looking between his dazzling grin and the old man Kumi sighed a little, her face finally returning to normal.  
“I'm sorry.” she apologised, putting out her hand. The old man, however just hit her in the shin and toddled off.  
“The youth these days, thinking a handshake resolves their problems! Peace loving hippies!” he protested, while Kumi just seethed with rage for a quiet moment.  
“I hope that's the last of my bad luck.” she murmured dryly, glancing at the strange teen who was still there looking at her.

He seemed to be contemplating something for a moment before beginning to inform her of his intentions with a shout.  
“I'll go get your walking stick back from that old man.” he stated, pointing to the elderly civilian who was finally a good distance away from them.  
“Oh, no, that was his walking stick.” Kumi corrected him, why on earth did he think it belonged to her?  
“Oh, I see.” he energetic teen uttered, eyeing her up and down for a moment. “With as much energy as his I thought he was picking on you.” he explained.  
“Ah, uh... Well, technically I guess he was.” Kumi admitted, though she was quite surprised herself how energetic that old man was when he wanted to be.


	2. Chapter 2

Stood there in silence for a moment Kumi gave a look of surprise when the teen started to proclaim something again.  
“Oh, your saviour was Rock Lee!” he greeted her, performing an unnecessary dance move for her.  
'Like a bird...' she quietly thought to herself, watching him lift one of his legs to show her how stretchy he was. Once he had stopped and returned to a normal standing position, which Kumi was thankful for because his green jump-suit was most definitely not leaving anything to the imagination, the teen gave her an expectant look. “Oh, right...” she suddenly spoke, breaking out of her train of thought.  
“It's okay, everyone should be amazed by my taijutsu, for one day I will be a master!” he informed her, while she just stood there quietly.  
“Yes, it's uh... amazing.” she agreed weakly, watching him spark into life.  
“That was nothing, through intense training I have become stronger, faster and more agile than ever before, I've a long way to go to be as great as my sensei but I'm training every waking hour to catch up!” he revealed, starting to show off his moves by jumping around the pathway like a bird of paradise on acid.

Not sure what to really say Kumi just continued to stand there staring at him as he showed off his moves, the pair remaining blissfully ignorant to she the group of people coming up behind them.  
“What is he doing?” a girl asked, giving Lee a defeated expression.  
“Showing off it seems.” another answered plainly, looking at the unfamiliar girl with long porcelain white hair and an elegant looking kimono.  
“Lee, I thought your heart burned for Sakura?” the third boy called mockingly, his dog barking in agreement. Forced to stop his acrobatics for just a moment Lee looked to his friends and started to swing his arms.  
“No, my heart will always only burn for Sakura!” Lee proclaimed with fire in his eyes, while Kumi just let out a tiny sigh. Apparently she had managed to find every single weirdo in the village in less than three days.  
“Well, I'll be going now.” Kumi informed them, though they were all too distracted by Lee to notice.  
“So, who was that?” Kiba questioned, wondering if Lee had just stumbled upon a random girl and started showing off to her.  
“Oh, that was-” he went to say, stilling when he saw she was already walking away. “I didn't get her name.” he uttered. “I just thought it was amazing how she can walk without a stick.” he explained, his back to her.

Stopping Kumi twitched her ears, what was with him and thinking she needed a walking stick?  
“Without a stick?” Neji dared to ask.  
“Well, she walks around so perfectly while blind. I wanted to ask her how she managed it so I could learn from her technique!” Lee explained, giving them all a weird look when their expressions suddenly changed to the sensation of an ominous presence. Apparently it was radiating off of the girl with white hair, her back still to them as she stood there completely still.  
'Blind?' she inwardly questioned, her mouth wide open and pulled up to the left into a lop-sided grin which twitched. “Blind?” she then openly asked, creaking her head around to look at him while Lee just stood there, still looking rather confused.

Trying to quickly fix Lee's fumble before the woman could get any more irate Kiba began to speak.  
“Don't mind Lee, he's not very perceptive.” the teen explained, the girl's annoyed expression still in place. At least the toxic presence radiating off of her had subsided though.  
“I'm not blind.” she informed Lee sternly, having come back with the intention of kicking his flamboyant ass.  
“Oh, I see.” he uttered, feeling so stupid for thinking she was blind. “So you have your eyes closed as part of a training exercise!” he stated, thumping the side of his fist off of his palm. Twitching her eyebrow Kumi stared at him, this guy was unbelievable.  
'Oh Kami, Lee...' Tenten inwardly groaned, watching the woman's face begin to churn.  
“I'm not training.” she stated firmly.  
“Oh...” he uttered, giving it a bit more thought. “I've got it!” he suddenly stated.  
'You don't have it.' Kiba thought to himself before Lee could even tell them what he thought.  
“You're a travelling entertainer that is practising to be a smiling Okame!” he stated, pointing his index finger to her face while she just stood there now utterly bewildered.

This time her face did not even make any sort of expression and just sat there in its stationary smiling state.  
“No. Are you training to be the next big Hyottoko?” she finally asked, watching him give her a rather perplexed expression. “It's because-” she tried to tell him when he said nothing, being cut off seconds later.  
“No, I will get this!” Lee refused, crossing his arms to go back into deep thought.  
“... I need to go lie down.” Kumi sighed, rubbing the corner of her forehead in defeat. This guy was both an idiot and stubborn. Leaving him to mull over why her face was like that, and probably to let his friends explain to him he had unintentionally insulted her, Kumi went back to her hotel room for the evening.  
Laying on her bed, trying to get some sleep, the young woman stilled when she felt someone was in her room, her body turning over so her head could tilt far enough to look.  
“Gaara!” she gasped, jumping out of her skin to find him standing at the end of her bed looking at her.  
“I wanted to talk to you.” he informed her, while she just inwardly groaned, could he have chosen a worser time?

Sitting up properly Kumi watched him come around the side of the bed to stand over her with his arms crossed.  
“You disobeyed my direct orders to stay in the village.” the redhead stated, while she just sighed.  
“I know.” she uttered. “I just hated the idea of being trapped in the village, hundreds of miles away from you, unable to do anything if something were to happen.” she protested weakly.  
“I'm aware.” Gaara stated plainly. “However, now you can watch me from a stand and do nothing.” he stated, watching her dart to her feet.  
“Don't say that!” she protested. “I'd be the first person down there trying to-” she went to protest, flinching when he shouted back.  
“You are not a medic, you're not even a nin. If you got in the way you would be killed. If not that then I would be forced to forfeit the match, shaming the entire village.” Gaara seethed, his brow crinkling as she just stood there quietly. “The fact that you think me so incapable that you feel you're needed is an insult.” he continued, the curled edges of her lips flattening.  
“I wasn't trying to insult you...” she quietly spoke. “I just wanted to be there for you. Everyone else gets to be!” she snapped suddenly. “Temari, Kankuro; they get to fight by your side, the other villagers can freely come and watch. They don't even respect you and you want them there more than me!” she continued, looming over him with a scowl. “No! I have to sit at home, worried sick about you, being told I'm not even capable of sitting in a stand shouting!” she huffed, sitting down on the bed.

Sitting there staring at the night stand, which was sitting in the opposite direction of Gaara, the young Senju mulled over if there was anything else she could shout at him.  
“I didn't even want to see you while I was here. I knew you would act like this.” she huffed, turning to look at him. “I thought if I just did it on my own it'd be fine, no one had to know. I could die happy knowing I did something!” she informed him, feeling her eyes starting to well up. “Great, and now I'm upset! I'm upset when I'm supposed to be happy to see someone I care about excel at something!” she protested in frustration.  
“Kumi-” he began, only to be cut off.  
“No!” she snapped, getting up again. “You shouldn't even be here, you have one of the Chuunin's hardest tests to pass tomorrow, you should be resting and preparing for it!” she told him off, frowning at him sternly.  
“There is nothing they can throw at me that will make me even remotely break a sweat.” Gaara informed her plainly now that she had stopped arguing with him.  
“I know, but I worry.” she mumbled softly. “Just because you haven't met an opponent as strong as you doesn't mean you wont ever.” Kumi added, wishing his sand would not prevent her from getting closer to him.  
“That threat wont be here amongst genin.” the redhead stated simply.

Examining him for a moment the young woman sighed, he was probably right. If he could down full grown adults, with years more experience than him, then a couple genin were not going to fair much better.  
“Still, you should be resting. One distraction could mean sudden failure.” Kumi stated, trying to sound knowledgable.  
“And yet here you are.” Gaara dryly stated, causing her know-it-all expression to drop.  
“Gaara, you've got me all wrong.” Kumi uttered, giving him a sultry look thereafter. “I'm not a distraction, I was just born this way.” she tutted, putting a hand on her hip and flicking a lock of her white hair up into the air.  
“I see.” he uttered, not at all moved by her attempts at being flirtatious. Feeling deflated by this Kumi sighed.  
“You should go rest now, it's late...” she suggested. “And don't worry about me, it'll be like I never existed.” the young Senju reassured him, shooing him from her room for the night.

As morning reached through the curtains Kumi began to stir, her room unusually cold as she opened her eyes and looked around, and for a moment she had forgotten where she was until she reminded herself of her situation.  
“Ahhh....” she heaved, falling backwards onto her bed with a content smile. It was certainly nice to wake up for once and not be soaked with sweat. Going for a shower anyway Kumi later sat on her bed painting her nails and toes a reddish pink, today she had decided to wear her light blue strapped dress with sandals, but she hated going anywhere without first giving herself a pedicure if people were going to be able to actually see them. Normally, with her kimono, she would wear a pair of tabi with her sandals but with this dress it would just look strange.  
Once she had premed herself enough Kumi then left the confinements of her room to go have breakfast, a few other guests giving her odd looks as she sat down.  
“What'll it be?” a hostess asked her, having stopped at her table to take her order.  
“I'll have the kiwi water and miso soup, please.” she requested, watching her then wander off back towards the kitchen.

Having had breakfast Kumi then went out again, hoping to find that dress shop again. Maybe she could find a discount on something in there that had been damaged on import or just had not sold fast enough. Wandering along the road the young Senju paused to look at some posters on a brick wall, they had a film house here to? Examining the various posters Kumi really was not sure which one she would enjoy, one of them looked like it was about martial arts but another seemed to have cute bunnies in it. Another had what appeared to be an entire cast of Ninneko cats versus Ninken dogs, which might have been quite funny.  
With so many choices to pick from Kumi honestly could not decide what she wanted to watch and instead went over to the ticket booth to ask the person sitting there for advice.  
“What movies are showing this evening?” she asked.  
“Young and Young-Adult films finish at ten, after that it's adult rated films only.” he replied, looking at her. “You can't watch anything after ten without I.D.” he added, deciding she looked too young to just hand a ticket over to without question.  
“Oh, well... What's the movie 'Icha Icha: Violence' about?” she enquired.  
“It's based on an adult book, so you'll need I.D. before I'll let you in, but it's-” he stated, realising he could not say what he was about to tell her out loud as a parent with her two children had stopped behind her.

Serving the woman, and waiting for them to leave, the man in the booth eventually decided it was safe to speak again.  
“Do you have proof of age?” he asked, taking her passport to have a look at. Handing it back he then slid a red book out to her. “This'll pretty much give you an idea of what you're in for.” he informed her, watching her open the book and start to skim it.  
“Oh... Oh my.” she finally spoke, landing her eyes onto a specific line deeper into the book. “Is this erotica?” she questioned, finally looking up.  
“Well yeah, why else would the movie be rated 'R'?” he questioned sleepily, her cheeks burning a bit.  
“J-Just give me a ticket to go see 'Tooth versus Fang'." she stated aloud when a family who had pre-ordered tickets wandered by and saw her passing the book back to him. Watching them vanish behind the swinging door she slowly leaned forward to whisper.  
“Gimmie one ticket to Icha-Icha.” she informed him, looking elsewhere as she picked up her ticket and placed it into her small shoulder bag.  
“Enjoy.” he stated, watching her wander off still trying to act inconspicuous. 

With her evening now sorted Kumi continued to go looking for that dress shop, however she was quickly bombarded by two children instead.  
“Wait!” the slightly older boy called, gaining her attention.  
“Yeah?” she asked, looking down at them curiously.  
“I told my sister you could help her, she broke her favourite doll.” he explained, lifting the toy up to show her. Blinking Kumi took it to have a look at, it did not look like something she could not fix.  
“No, you broke it!” the little girl huffed, her face furrowed up and her arms crossed. Looking from the doll to her the young Senju bent over and showed her the broken doll, confused the girl watched as it was fixed before her very eyes, even the colour to its face began to return from where the paint had been worn away.  
“Is that better?” Kumi asked, to which the girl took her doll and held it in both hands.

Staring at it for a good minute the little girl suddenly began to cry, which startled Kumi at first.  
“Oh no, what did I do?” she asked, but her brother seemed just as confused.  
“Why are you upset now? I got her to fix it!” he protested, frowning deeply.  
“You said she'd fix the dress!” she bleated, causing Kumi to frown gently.  
“What dress?” she asked, looking at the naked doll.  
“She lost the dress for it ages ago.” the young boy answered.  
“Oh, I can't make something like that from nothing.” she replied, only making the girl cry so loud it was beginning to take the attention of passers-by. “But! But...!” Kumi interjected, trying to calm her down. “I can make you a new dress; how about we go to the dress shop, you pick out a dress and then I'll tailor it to fit your doll?” she tried to reason with her, to which she looked at her doll, whimpered as she nodded and lifted her hand to be led to the shop.

Taking her to the dress shop Kumi looked at all the dresses with the little girl, however every time she suggested a dress the little girl would just shake her head and frown.  
“It's too pink!”, “Too long!”, “I don't like ducks!”, “It has a ketchup stain!” the little girl would shout, which only made Kumi sad when she heard the comment about the white dress with the red flower on it that she absolutely adored.  
“Okay, so you don't like any of the dresses in here?” Kumi asked, trying to ignore the pissed off look on the shop owner's face. These were expensive, highly sought after dresses, what did a little girl know about fashion!  
“No.” the girl huffed, while her brother gave her a tired look. It was already embarrassing enough that he was in a shop for girls without his little sister taking a strop.  
Sighing Kumi took her out of the shop to stand in the street, her eyes peering down at her paper bag for a few minutes in thought.  
“What do we do, she wont stop crying!” the boy asked her, stood beside her listening to his sister take another terror tantrum.  
“I have an idea.” she uttered, a little light going off in her head.  
“How about you design the dress and I make it from scratch?” she suggested, to which the girl gave it a bit of thought before her face lifted a little.  
“Okay.” she agreed, waiting with her brother outside an art supply shop for Kumi to come back out.

Sitting down on a park bench Kumi set up a canvas and put out her paints.  
“Okay, what kind of clothes do you want?” she asked the girl. “It doesn't even have to be a dress.” she added.  
“Shrine maiden...” the girl murmured, though at first the young Senju did not catch it.  
“Huh?” she questioned, giving her a confused look.  
“Our mum is a shrine maiden for the temple.” the boy explained.  
“Oh, well sure, I'll make her a Miko.” she agreed. “White haori, red hakama?” she then questioned, gaining a small nod from the boy but the girl shook her head.  
“Mum wears a skirt with a tied bow.” she informed her.  
“Okay, white haori, red skirt.” Kumi uttered, picking up the doll to draw measurements out onto the canvas with a pencil before she began. Getting to work Kumi painted the desired clothing onto the canvas, whilst the girl watched quietly.  
“There, I think it's done.” the young Senju spoke, showing them the painting. “Is there anything missing?” she enquired, not wishing to start cutting out the pattern only to be told it was not right.

Leaning in the pair stared at her expectantly, her face as blank as before.  
“It's missing something.” she uttered, but at least this time she did not cry about it. “I want dragonflies on it.” she finally informed them.  
“Red dragonflies?” Kumi asked, trying to think what colour should go on the white haori.  
“No...” she answered. “Green!” she then gasped, grabbing the green paint to hold it up to her. Uncertain that green was the best option Kumi squirted out a small amount and placed a small dot of it into a bit of scrap paper before holding it up to the red hakama.  
“Are you sure?” she asked, not really liking the red and green combination herself. “It might look a little too... festive...” she added in thought.  
“Green! Green!” she protested, which made Kumi's forehead sweat slightly.  
“Green it is...” the young Senju confirmed, beginning to carefully paint tiny green dragonflies onto the white section of the dress.

Leaning away again Kumi showed her the canvas again, the little girl's head tilting as she stared at it in deep thought.  
“I don't like the green dragonflies.” she admitted, causing her brother to frown.  
“You just told her that's what you wanted!” he shouted, causing her to cry again. Sighing in defeat Kumi twitched her eyebrow, she had never had the idea of children cross her mind but this was certainly making her actively decide against it completely now.  
“But I don't like it.” she sniffled, looking up to see the dragonflies were gone and Kumi was gently using a plastic knife to scrape the paint back onto her plastic board. “They're gone!” she gasped, happy to see it back to how it was originally.  
“So no dragonflies?” she asked, hoping the girl would be happy soon.  
“I want dogs on it!” the little girl suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the one on a guy's head.  
“Dogs?” Kumi asked with a look of bewilderment.

Hearing a yap Kumi turned to see there was someone on the path nearby walking along with their puppy, which she quickly realised was the same guy from yesterday.  
“No, no frogs!” she then changed her mind as Kumi went to paint dogs on instead.  
“Frogs?” she asked in a tired manner, turning to see that 'Lee' was also going down that path.  
“The next Chuunin must be soon.” she commented, turning to see everyone was heading towards an ominous looking forest.  
“Frogs!” the girl cheered, and for once the little boy actually seemed to be onboard.  
“Green frogs?” she asked, ready to paint them on.  
“Orange frogs!” the girl requested, causing her to stop and clean her brush to change the colour.

Painting on the frogs Kumi then sat there, waiting for the girl to tell her she did not like it yet again.  
“I like it.” she finally stated, nodding her head.  
“Oh, well I-” the young Senju went to say before turning to look at the girl with just as much surprise as the boy. “Wait, you do?” she asked, just to make sure she had heard her right.  
“I like it.” she reiterated, finally holding up the doll. “At least this will be the easy part.” Kumi acknowledged, beginning to cut out the outline of the two sections and then a strip for the sash. From there the pair sat watching her lay the painted fabric carefully over the doll and then fold it round to make sure everything was going to fit right.  
“Okay, here goes nothing. I've never done this before...” she admitted, closing her eyes and placing the doll between her palms.  
Concentrating her entire mind onto the shape of the doll Kumi took slow, gentle breaths, the chakra from her hands flowing into the fabric on the canvas. Slowly the fabric wove itself together, closing all the unnecessary gaps, thereafter she took a moment to make sure the outfit had sealed properly before she attempted the bit she was not sure would work.  
“Yeah, that looks right.” she agreed quietly to herself, turning it over to check the back before then making sure the clothes had not accidentally sealed with the fabric of the doll itself. 

Thankfully everything seemed to be in order, however the girl did not seem happy.  
“But the paint is all blotchy!” she protested.  
“I'll fix that now.” Kumi reassured her, shutting her eyes to concentrate yet again. This was the part that would either work or fail as she had never actually tried to make pigment meld with material fibre before, usually she would have just used dye but if she had done that, and made a mistake, then she would have had to start entirely from scratch. Going off into her own little world Kumi had not even noticed the grass and flowers beginning to rise in the area like it had done outside the flower shop, the strange phenomenon catching the attention of a genin as he was walking by. At the time he had been staring forward, his ebony eyes focused on the path ahead as he tried to ignore his pink haired teammates constant bickering with the blonde haired idiot.

Out of the corner of his eye he had seen the girl sitting with two children, the three of them hunched over something that he could not make out until he had walked far enough forward to put them at just the right angle. Seeing the grass, leaves and flowers begin to act weird he stopped, his team mates questioning his strange and sudden halt.  
“Sasuke?” Sakura asked, giving him a concerned look before turning to see what it was he was staring at. Quickly her jealousy kicked into overdrive, her eyebrow twitching erratically. What was he staring at that other girl for?!  
“Woah...” Naruto spoke, his arms still crossed behind his head. “Sasuke never stops for any girl.” he commented, totally oblivious to the change in the environment around them.  
“Shut up, you idiot!” Sakura then shouted, bopping him on the head.  
“It worked, it worked!” the Uchiha heard the children exclaim, the little girl grabbing the doll to look at in awe and wonder.  
“The paint is all flat now!” she gasped, smiling as she began to hug her doll tightly.  
“I'm glad that worked.” Kumi uttered, letting the corner of her lips curl up before her smile became a frown.

Hitting her chest, which had suddenly began to hurt, the young woman hummed and hawed.  
“Oh, ohhh... I think I need a drink of water.” she informed them, the little boy's look of joy dissipating quickly.  
“Stay with her, I'm gonna get water!” he shouted, running off towards the near-by cafe.  
“Is she okay?” Naruto asked, seeing the woman up on the hill starting to look quite ill.  
“We can't help her or we'll be late for the Chuunins...” Sakura admitted, pacing between wanting to go check on her now and continue onto where they were supposed to be going.  
“It's okay, I'll go make sure she's okay.” a much older voice spoke, gaining their attention.  
“Oh, Kakashi.” Sakura greeted him as he put his book away.  
“She's just over-exerted herself it seems, guess she was doing too many jutsu tricks for the kids.” he chuckled, wandering over.  
“But she wasn't doing any jutsu?” Naruto questioned, following his team mates when they started to head away.

Coming over to see the woman Kakashi examined her for a moment as she lay back on the seat gulping down the glass of water the little boy had gotten her.  
“Are you okay?” he enquired, seeing her vital signs had began to return to normal.  
“Yeah, I just needed something to drink.” the young woman reassured him, looking up at him for a moment. It seemed he was a much older shinobi, which made him the first adult nin she had seen since she had gotten here.  
“You should be a bit more careful, exerting your chakra like that can be quite dangerous.” he chuckled, to which she gave him a vague smile. At least, he thought it was a smile.  
“I was trying out a new technique, but it worked so I'm happy.” she explained, putting her empty glass down on the park table.  
“She fixed my doll!” the girl cheered, holding it up to show him.

Smiling down at her he examined the doll for a moment.  
“Oh, that's a very nice doll.” he admired, watching the children both then thank her and run off to go show their mother the new and improved toy.  
“Oh thank Kami.” Kumi grunted, leaning even further into her seated position. “I thought they would never be happy.” she added, lifting her glass to see it was empty. “Mmm, need more water.” she sighed, getting to her feet to pack everything away.  
“I have to be going now, you be careful.” Kakashi warned her playfully, waving as he wandered off.  
“... Everyone is so nice here.” the young Senju admired, standing with her empty glass for a moment before taking all of her stuff and heading to the cafe to hand them back their glass. Later that evening Kumi had been standing outside the cinema with her ticket in hand, her eyes scanning it before she looked around herself for the second time in the last few minutes. Right now the street was empty while the wind was rattling a nearby bin, the cold breeze drifting over her skin, causing her arm hairs to prickle and stand on end.

Eventually Kumi was able to go inside, buy some popcorn and sit down at the back of the cinema, her eyes lolling all over the small room as she took in the unfamiliar sight. It was certainly cosy and quiet in here, right now she was the only person sitting in one of the twenty seats, her hand rummaging about in her snack box to pull out a few pieces to eat.  
“Mm.” she mumbled to herself, popcorn was certainly a different but pleasant treat. Finally the movie had began, the lights going down and the theatre beginning to rattle with loud introductory music as it went. Settling further into her seat the young woman had gotten about half way through the movie before she had fallen asleep, her head tilted to the side as she leaned slightly to the left. Awaking with a start when there was a loud explosion Kumi darted her head around in panic.  
“Huh, what!?” she snorted herself awake, gripping the arm rests as she tried to figure out where she was. “Shit...” she groaned, realising she had drifted off somewhere after the first big scene in the movie.  
Seeing that she was still alone in the room the young Senju sat there trying to stitch together the bits of the film she had missed, however by the time the credits had began to roll she had found herself just totally confused. Getting up to leave Kumi pushed on the door to head outside, a frown forming on her face when she found it was lashing with rain.  
“Should have brought a coat.” she acknowledged, walking through the rain slowly. The rain itself was actually not all that bad, the hot weather had caused the falling droplets to be quite pleasant on the skin, on top of that it was actually quite refreshing to see rain when it rarely did so in the Sand Village.

Wandering the streets, enjoying the sight of water everywhere, Kumi examined the small collections of water along the road as she went, a small sense of satisfaction running through her veins when she broke up her reflection in a puddle, scattering her face and the lamp light across the ripples. Stopping in the middle of a park the young Senju watched as a bird flew past, dropping seeds it had been shoving into its beak as it went, one of which fell into a puddle near her feet. Peering down at it the young Senju began to crouch down, her stretched and flattened hand breaking the surface of the puddle before she began to swirl her hand with eyes closed.  
Twisting her wrist so her palm then faced skywards Kumi began to raise her hand slowly, the dormant seed jacket breaking to allow a sunflower to begin to grow upwards out of the puddle and rise skywards, gaining in size as it went. Beginning to stand up her hand naturally increased in height, drawing the sunflower upwards with her until its face was nose to nose with her. Opening her eyes Kumi then silently admired the flower, it was certainly one she had not seen before.  
“That was quite impressive.” someone stated, giving her a fright.

Alarmed the young Senju looked towards a man much older than herself, his outfit causing her to stiffen and bow.  
“Ah, Hokage!” she greeted him, standing up to attention.  
“There's no need to be alarmed.” he reassured her, coming closer to admire the flower she had grown. “What are you doing out in the rain?” the Hokage then enquired.  
“I was just having a walk around the village.” she answered, still trying to get over the fact she was talking to the village leader of all people. Quietly he turned his head to look at her for a moment, her simple expression turning to curiosity. “Isn't it dangerous to be out here on your own?” she asked, not able to see any sort of guards keeping an eye on him.  
“Our village is quite safe, if I need assistance it is close at hand.” he answered, not entirely surprised she was unable to sense the several ANBU watching her like a hawk. “Being able to use wood release is quite rare these days.” he commented, going back to looking at her sunflower.  
“Is it?” she asked, not entirely familiar with what was common or rare in the ninjutsu realm.  
“Do you know your basic natures?” he asked, wondering if she was a mix between water and earth.

Giving him an odd expression Kumi began to list them off.  
“Oh... There's fire, water... aiiir?” she spoke in thought, however after stating the first two obvious ones she ended up guessing if air was a nature or not.  
“... Did you not attend an academy?” he questioned, to which she shook her head.  
“No, I've never been to a school before, my mum was against it.” she explained, not entirely sure if he was confused or disappointed in her answer.  
“It's not uncommon for mothers to worry about their daughters.” he admitted after much thought, however considering her abilities it was probably a bit of a waste.  
“She never really gave me a proper reason.” Kumi uttered, glad to see the rain had finally stopped. “It's too late now, of course. You have to start at a young age, by the time I'm even remotely on par with a genin I'd be in my late twenties, and then I'd only be a shinobi for maybe three years before I'd be too old.” the young woman added, starting to feel the wet clothes resting against her skin beginning to go from pleasant to sticky.

Giving her a sceptical look the Hokage could not help but frown ever so slightly, she was quite pessimistic for a girl with a permanent smile on her face.  
“I should probably let you get back to what you were doing.” Kumi finally spoke, pulling her sunflower out of the ground to take back to the hotel. “You're probably really busy.” she added, bowing her head slightly to be polite to him.  
“Yes, and you look like you need to get somewhere dry before you catch a cold.” he agreed, suddenly remembering where he was supposed to have been fifteen minutes ago. “Ah, where were my manners, I am the Hokage, Sarutobi.” he formally stated, forgetting he had not properly introduced himself, even if chances were they were not going to meet again. It was rare that he ever got to leave his office and breathe in some much needed fresh air.  
“Ah.” Kumi spoke, her simple expression turning into surprise.  
“Kumi Senju.” she replied, bowing to him properly before beginning to walk off. Continuing on his path the Hokage seemed to calmly mull over their conversation before grinding to a halt, wait what was her surname? Turning he found she was already gone however, his expression flattening as he gave the empty street a dry look. Perhaps sometimes even he was not the sharpest.


	3. Chapter 3

Back in her hotel room Kumi had placed the sunflower into a vase of water and had dried herself off with a soft towel before jumping into bed, her cold feet being tucked up to try warm them up underneath the thick duvets. The next day the young woman had been lazing in bed when she heard something was in her room, her eyes opening as she turned over onto her back to see Gaara was watching her sleep.  
“Gaara?” she questioned, sitting up to rub her eye.  
“The preliminaries are over.” the sand-nin informed her, his eyes flickering with something she could not quite describe.  
“Oh, that's good, are you through to the finals?” the white haired woman asked, sitting up to stretch and let out a wide, moaning yawn.  
“Yes. My opponent was the best I'd ever had.” he informed her, giving her a good idea as to what had him looking, almost, happy.  
“Oh, that's great, Gaara.” she congradulated him, getting to her feet only to yawn again.

Ruffling her hair Kumi wandered into the bathroom while Gaara told her all about the fight, a 'mhm' coming out of her foamy mouth every so often as she brushed her teeth.  
“Do you know who you'll be fighting next?” she finally asked, running her mouth under the tap to clean the toothpaste off of her lips.  
“Sasuke Uchiha.” he informed her as if she should know who that was specifically.  
“An Uchiha?” she asked as she straightening out her back from having just washed her face over the sink, her white towel slowly lowering down from her face.  
“Yes.” he answered, watching her frown as she placed the towel over a railing.  
“I should stay away from him...” she murmured in thought.  
“Why?” he asked, his eyes flickering. “Is he a greater opponent than Lee?” Gaara then questioned quickly, coming closer with a hungry look.  
“Oh... I don't know.” she answered carefully. “I just meant because he's an Uchiha...” Kumi tried to explain carefully.  
“Because he's an Uchiha?” the redhead asked, settling down ever so slightly.  
“Mother told me Uchiha and Senju are mortal enemies, they'll kill you on the spot.” the young woman explained, pulling open her eyelid. “They have red, demon eyes that suck out your soul and send you to hell for a day!” she added, letting go of her eye thereafter.

Taking a moment to contemplate her words, which sounded like the psycho-babbles of someone mentally ill, Gaara came to the conclusion that Kumi was referring to the Sharingan.  
“The Sharingan is used as a form of mental torture, you don't go to hell literally.” he stated, to which she pouted a little.  
“Still... Uchiha and Senju are like cats and dogs, flies and frogs! They don't mix!” she protested, squeezing past him to pick out a dress for today.  
“I don't think you have much to concern yourself with.” he stonily informed her.  
“Nope. Because I'm not going to meet him.” she stated with a firm, knowing expression. “... What does he look like?” Kumi questioned, giving him a defeated look as she held up the kimono she had bought yesterday with the intention of putting it on.  
“Like an Uchiha.” Gaara replied simply, which made her curious expression flatten.  
“That's not helpful...” she told him off, feeling about ready to start getting undressed and changed now.

Looking from her dress to him Kumi stared at him expectantly, while he just stood there with his arms crossed staring back.  
“... Gaara...” she uttered, flattening her lips.  
“Yes?” he questioned innocently, causing her to feel as if a bird had just flew right over her head.  
“Turn around, I need to take my shirt and shorts off...” she requested, to which he gave her a strange look.  
“Why?” he asked, causing her to stutter a little.  
“I.. uh... Well, you can watch if you like.” she supposed quietly, her cheeks turning a gentle pink. Pulling her top off Kumi stood there for a second facing him, her bare chest completely revealed to him. Stood there, now a little shy, Kumi glanced at Gaara who had taken his own shirt off now. Stilling the young Senju stared at him, her face going completely red, what was he doing? “G-Gaara...” she gulped, having never actually seen him without his shirt on up until now.

Feeling herself beginning to drool the young woman felt herself overcome with joy, her arms extending as she jumped at him.  
'Gaara!' she inwardly squealed, coming face first with a wall of clothing. 'Huh?' she questioned, coming down from her overwhelming excitement to bundle the clothes into her arms.  
“I need you to fix my clothes.” he informed her, getting to his feet to go have a shower while she did as he requested.  
“Heeeeeh?” she then questioned, watching him disappear into the bathroom and shut the door, locking it behind himself as he went. Muttering to herself Kumi sat on the bed fifteen minutes later fixing the sand-nin's clothing in her new kimono, her head slowly rising to look at the closed door and then around to make sure no one was looking.  
Pulling his shirt to her nose Kumi began to sniff the collar, a deep 'mmm' parting her lips as Gaara's scent protruded her senses. Quickly her lips flattened out thereafter while the edges curled up into a massive, closed Chesire-smile.  
“What are you doing?” Gaara asked, giving her a fright.  
“Oh, I was just checking if it needed washed!” she gasped, pulling his shirt away from her nose quickly.

At first it did not look like he was going to buy it, or it did, at least, until he spoke.  
“I see. No, I had it washed before coming here.” he informed her, settling on the bed to continue to dry himself off.  
“Oh, well that's good.” Kumi acknowledged awkwardly, looking away for a moment with a tense expression. 'Sometimes I'm glad you're as dense as a bag of rocks...' she quietly admitted to herself. Letting the room fill with silence for a few minutes Kumi eventually glanced at Gaara, her eyes lowering to his chest as water dripped down his abs, causing her hunger to slowly resurface. Biting her lip the young woman whimpered, oh how she wanted to lick the water right off him.  
“Stupid sand.” she huffed, knowing it would only end in her face planting sand if she got too close to him.  
“Hm?” Gaara questioned, looking at her through a gap in the towel he had been using to dry his hair.  
“Stupid hand, I said! Stupid hand, it was refusing to cooperate this early in the morning.” Kumi stated awkwardly, placing a hand behind her head.  
“I see.” he then replied, going back to drying himself.

Sitting in silence yet again Kumi got to her feet to go find her sandals, her feet pausing as she remembered to ask him something.  
“Oh, I bought this dress yesterday, what do you think of it?” she asked, turning around to show it to him with a smile. Examining the dress Gaara seemed to really give it a lot of thought, whilst Kumi leaned in towards him with a hopeful stare.  
“It has a ketchup stain.” Gaara finally answered, pointing to her hip. Standing there, staring at him, the young woman let out a large sigh, what did she honestly expected from a bag of rocks?  
“I'm gonna go get breakfast, do you want anything?” Kumi asked, feeling she would need a large breakfast to get through today.  
“No.” the redhead replied simply, watching her leave.

For the next few weeks leading up to the Chuunin finals the town was busy once more with the youth of the village, however there were also a few funerals also being held for the contenders who had not made it through the first two challenges, making the next two weeks both joyous and sorrowful. Kumi, not really being apart of this, had decided to keep to herself mostly and try not to get in the way as usual. Throughout this the young woman never saw any of the sand-siblings as they were all off practising intensely for the finale which, of course, would be their greatest challenge yet.  
Sitting by the river inside the village Kumi has been staring quietly at the stream, her hand flicking small smooth pebbles into the water as she sat in the sun enjoying the peaceful environment as the grass tickled her shins and knees. All this relaxation she had gotten really made her wish she did not have to leave this village, Kumi could really see herself settling down here some day. Taking a deep breath the young woman fell backwards onto her back while her legs remained turned at an angle from where she had been resting on her hip, her face positioned directly skywards so that she could observe the clouds and sea of blue sky.

Behind her her hair had splayed out across the grass, getting tangled in some of the long green blades or twigs resting there.  
“I wish I could laze about like that.” Naruto groaned, watching her through the trees from across the river.  
“Idiot, lazing about wont get you through the Chuunins.” Sasuke told him off dryly, turning to see what he was looking at with so much jealousy. It was that white haired woman again.  
“I heard some of the shinobi talking about her during the preliminaries.” Sakura whispered, however she only really did so so that she could lean in close towards the Uchiha.  
“What'd she do?” Naruto asked, having seen her around town but never during the Chuunins.  
“She made the Hokage fifteen minutes late to an important meeting.” the teen tried to remember, however she was sure that was not all the men had been muttering to each other about.  
“How?” the blond questioned, furrowing his features.  
“I don't know, I just heard them talking about her.” Sakura tutted, not about to suddenly pull information she knew nothing about out of thin air.

Grouped up and staring at her the trio had not noticed Kiba coming up behind them, his narrow pupils trailing from them to the woman lazing on the embankment and back.  
“Shouldn't you be training?” he asked, whilst Akamaru yapped in agreement.  
“We were discussing that woman who's been going around town lately.” Sakura informed him, to which he gave them a confused, lop-sided look.  
“I met her while looking for Lee. Really pissed her off when he unintentionally made fun of her face as well. Didn't speak to her personally though.” the brunet uttered, just us unsure as they were as to who she was or where she was from.  
Seeing that she had gotten up to leave at this point the teens got back to training, but after a few hours Kiba had found himself lazing on his back in a field near an opening in the forest, whilst Akamaru still had quite a bit of energy in him and had decided to go mark trees in the area, as long as he did not stray far he was sure it would be fine. Sniffing around the trees and the ground the small white dog kept his eyes to the ground, a few minutes prior he had picked up an unfamiliar scent and had decided to follow it, but with his eyes pointed down he had not even noticed the broken branches and uprooted trees along the way. 

Feeling something coarse bump off of his nose Akamaru stopped, his head rising to sniff around a thick, bristled object. Confused as to what on earth he was sniffing the small dog tilted his head up further before stilling in fright, above him was a boar, a very big boar that was unlike any he had chased with Kiba in the forest before. Snorting the huge beast stared down at the dog, whilst he looked back with fear which slowly became minor confusion, why was there a yellow hat on its head? Letting out a ferocious squeal the boar very quickly made Akamaru decide that their little face-off was over, his tiny body turning sharply to carry him yelping through the forest in search of Kiba. Having heard the squeal from quite a distance away a few of the nin training there gave one another a confused glance before either going back to training or pursing the noise, Kiba on the other hand had been dozing off when the noise happened and at first had not really noticed, his senses came alive almost instantly however when he heard his best-friend yelping in horror in the distance and coming his way fast. From the bushes Akamaru came hurtling out, headbutting Kiba in the process as people gathered to see what on earth was going on.  
“Whoa, it's okay!” he tried to console his whining friend, the sound of heavy crunching gaining his immediate attention thereafter. Grouping together the nin stared at the trees in anticipation, sweat trickling down some people's foreheads. What on earth was that? Finally, eventually, out from the trees Kumi appeared, her lackadaisical expression turning to shock when she turned and saw multiple eyes staring at her intensely.  
“Whoa, whu?” she questioned, raising an arm in defence naturally.  
“A geez, Akamaru, you had me thinking something horrible had happened. It's just that uh... girl...” he sighed with relief, ruffling the pup's fur.  
“Where you the one making all that noise?” Naruto asked, eyeing her up and down.  
“What noise?” Kumi asked, giving him a weird look.

Quickly all the nin facing her began to look mortified, whilst she just blinked and gave them a questioning stare.  
“What?” she questioned, suddenly feeling something blow hot air across her the back of her neck. Crinkling her brow the young woman cursed. 'Oh god, what now?' she inwardly questioned, turning to look at the huge boar. “You!” she gawked, turning properly to look at him. The boar, in response, squealed slightly in anger. “I... Is that my hat?” she questioned, spotting the yellow, large brimmed sun-hat which was stuck to his head. The boar, however, just snorted with pride this time, its hoof scraping off of the ground to show it was ready to flatten her.  
“Back away slowly...” someone carefully stated, leading to everyone simultaneously taking a step backwards. Kumi, however, had a very different set of actions in mind for this boar.  
“Give. Me. My. Hat.” Kumi hissed, her brow darkening as she grit her teeth, grabbed the boar by the tusks, forced a vine to shoot out of the ground and wrap around the beasts waist, and, finally, swing her arms to the left to drag his face with them.

Confused at the sensation of its feet being ripped off of the ground the boar squealed loudly into the distance as it flew hurtling over the tops of the trees and off out of sight, her hat slowly wafting down through the air thereafter as she reached up to snag it.  
“Ugh, I might as well burn this thing now.” she huffed, giving it a sniff only to recoil in disgust.  
“That was... Amazing!” Naruto cheered, she had not even flinched once even though it had even been standing inches from her face.  
“That thing had it coming after it chased me from the River Country boarder.” she huffed, holding the hat between her index finger and her thumb at a distance. “I just can't believe it was out here waiting for me.” Kumi then admitted in thought, it had been a really persistent beast.  
“I thought I told you not to leave the village.” Gaara stated, causing Naruto to flinch. Oh Kami, it was that guy again!

Giving the redhead a rather surprised look the young woman smiled a bit more than before, not that anyone could really tell.  
“Gaara! I thought you were training?” Kumi questioned, trying to ignore the annoyed look on his face.  
“We were until a boar hit Kankuro and knocked him flying.” Temari interjected, giving her semi-conscious brother a dry look. Of all the things they thought they would face as a challenge flying boar was not one of them.  
“Ah... is he okay?” Kumi asked, feeling entirely responsible for what happened to him.  
“S-Somehow...” the brunet dizzily spoke. “I had a feeling... you would be the cause...” he grunted, his head rolling back and then forward back onto his sister's shoulder. For a moment Gaara glanced between Kumi and the leaf-nin that had gathered around her, what on earth was happening over here?  
“My luck isn't great this month.” Kumi admitted with a soft sigh.  
“T-Temari... Temari!” Kankuro suddenly gasped, pointing at the small dog on Kiba's head.  
“What?” she asked dryly, getting sick of holding him up while he was flailing about.  
“That dog... It has Kumi's ffff-aa-ce!” he stated, to which the blonde flattened her features and dropped him.

Feeling a cold breeze flow through her hair Kumi's eyebrow twitched slightly.  
“That better be a compliment since dogs are cute.” she stated, just about ready to see if she could hit the boar with a flying Kankuro.  
“You're getting in the way again.” Gaara finally interjected coldly, gaining her attention.  
“Heh?” she questioned, giving him a tired look. It was this again.  
“Not only are you distracting us but you've got in the way of several people.” the redhead continued, watching her frown come into play. “Go back to the village, you're not supposed to be here.” he then ordered, turning to leave with Temari, his sand picking up Kankuro as they went. Sighing Kumi began to head back towards the village, hoping perhaps she could find a way to soak the smell of boar out of her hat so it could be worn again. Trying everything, however, Kumi found it near impossible to get it out of her hat.  
“What was that thing rolling in?” she questioned, scrapping a sponge down the brim of the hat to cover it in suds before dipping it back into the river. Scrubbing it inside the water the young woman cursed when she pulled the hat out of the water and sniffed it again, her face screwing up into a look of irritation. “Oh come on...” she huffed, putting the hat down to have a rest.

Sitting there the young Senju leaned back onto her hands and sprawled out her legs, her head tilting backwards until she could see the sky again.  
“In the way, in the way.” she parroted, still annoyed by his comments. He does not see her for near enough two weeks and when he does she is 'in the way', what was it going to be like when he became the village leader if this was what it was like now? Slowly her furrowed expression dissipated, when he became the village leader he was not going to have any time for her whatsoever.  
Opening her mouth so it was ajar Kumi contemplated this very carefully, that did not sound all that enticing, especially when she, quite shamelessly, wanted him to notice her and pay attention to her. Gazing at the sky with a soft expression Kumi pulled herself back up so she was sitting straight, this was not exactly how she imagined her first relationship to be that was for sure. Giving it a bit of thought the young woman decided to really think about how she wanted this relationship to go, coming to the conclusion that she would have a talk with Gaara once the Chuunins were over and everything had gone back to normal.

A few days later it was finally time for the finals, the entire stadium packed with people who had come from all over the country to celebrate the event. High above it all Kumi had taken to standing in a stairwell, her arms crossed over as she leaned against a metal barrier and stared down below at the empty colosseum, waiting for the first combatants to enter. All she could really hope for now was that Gaara, Temari and Kankuro completed the Chuunins safely, but then they had never given her any reason to really worry either. Hearing something behind her the young woman turned her head to look at the empty shadows, her expression growing confused.  
“Is someone there?” she asked, coming away from the banister to peer around the corner to see up and down the staircase. Blinking Kumi turned around again, ready to go back to where she had been standing when she found someone had dropped down right behind her and had grabbed her by the mouth and waist. Kicking her legs and shouting in muffled protest the young woman found herself dragged off into the shadows, her eyes being blind-folded and her mouth being gagged quickly so all she could do was listen to what was going on.  
“I got her, luckily she stopped in a deserted part of the arena.” her captor stated, seemingly handing her over directly to someone else.  
“Is the vessel ready?” someone else questioned, the sound of a wooden lid being lifted taking her attention.

Confused she felt something brush against her neck while someone gripped her hair to keep her from flicking her head around. Being bitten Kumi let out an alarmed scream through her gag before gasping when she was dumped into something and sealed inside.  
'What the hell is going on?!' she questioned, punching and kicking about inside the barrel before suddenly feeling incredibly tired. 'What... the hell?' she groaned, feeling all the energy being sucked out of her.  
“Are you sure she'll stay in there?” one of the masked nin asked.  
“A special seal was placed in and outside the casket, she shouldn't be able to use her wood technique to escape.” another answered, watching a few men lift it up onto their shoulders.  
“I'm more worried about when her transformation is over.” one muttered, rushing off into the forest with the others.  
“We're to lock her up before anything like that happens.” another stated firmly, not wanting anyone to screw this up when it was already dangerous enough trying to kidnap someone in broad daylight during the Chuunins.

Back inside the arena Gaara had been standing in the shadows with his arms crossed, his eyes shut as he tried to relax for as long as he could before he had to go down and fight.  
“Weird, Kumi was supposed to meet us here.” Temari commented, peering about.  
“She's probably still angry.” Gaara replied simply, listening to the mass crowd outside that would be watching them fight soon enough.  
“Do you think so? She's been so adamant about staying to watch up until now....” the blonde murmured. “Any sign of her?” Temari then asked, turning to see Kankuro had finally gotten here.  
“Didn't see her while I was down there, no.” Kankuro informed them, glancing around as he tried to catch his breath. “She's still not here?” he questioned with a frown.  
“She is probably watching from another part of the arena.” Gaara commented, beginning to head towards the top of the stairs. “I'm going to wait for my turn from a more convenient position.” the redhead then stated, having Temari soon come over to follow him.  
“Ugh...” Kankuro groaned, having climbed all this way only for them to tell him they were going back down now.

Laying on her side Kumi took low, shallow breaths, her face expressionless as she tried to conserve what little energy she had left. Occasionally she could hear the sound of something hitting off the lid of her container but other than that the world around her was completely silent. That being said, Kumi was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on her situation while her body felt like it was on fire right now, the scolding sensation that had started in her neck had been drifting down her body with each passing minute since she had been bitten and it was getting worse.  
'What's happening to me?' she questioned. 'Have I been poisoned?' the young Senju asked again, unable to move inside the tight container.  
Unable to tell how much time had past the young woman eventually felt the barrel being put down.  
“Lock and seal the door, Orochimaru'll come deal with her once he has returned.” one of her captors stated, leaving the room with the three others to let him lock up.  
“H-Help...” Kumi gasped, trying to move only to find talking hurt even worse than breathing did. Finally passing out from exhaustion the young woman did not awake for a good few days thereafter, her eyebrows crinkling together as she roused from her deep sleep. Through the lid above her light had broken through, the beam streaming in to bounce off of her bare knee. Weakly Kumi pushed on the lid with her hands, however it did not budge.

Groaning the young woman tried to push harder, her other hand thumping on the inside of the container. At the time, just outside the room she had been placed in, Kabuto had been talking to Orochimaru about what to do with the body since it appeared she had not survived the transformation. Between pauses the pair eventually heard a vague thud, the sage's eyes flicking to the side to glance at the door.  
“It seems there's no need.” he spoke, watching Kabuto open the door before he peered inside at the container. All was silent now, the pair giving the barrel a sceptical inspection, perhaps she had not been the one making noise.  
“Hm.” Kabuto hummed, going over to the barrel to look it over. The seals had been broken at least, but other than that there was nothing to say she was alive. Lifting up the lid the grey-haired teen looked in at the still, unmoving body of the woman.  
“Well... Decomposition hasn't set in.” he evaluated, pressing his fingers to her neck to check for a pulse. Instead he found himself flinching when his wrist was grabbed, her head creaking up to look at him. Having been pulled out from inside the barrel Kumi sat with her legs bent and sprawled out at either side of her, her breathing a bit ragged from even the most minor of movement.  
“How are you feeling?” Orochimaru enquired, examining her weak expression of pain as she replied with nothing more than a pained, quiet groan. For quite some time she had just been staring at the floor, causing Kabuto to question if the strain on her body, caused by the severe transformation, had done something to her mentally, which would not have been a first.  
“Kumi.” Kabuto stated, seeing if he could elicit even the most simple of responses from her. At first it did not look like she was going to respond but after a minute or so her head began to lift to look at the grey-haired nin. “Kumi Senju.” the teen reiterated, now able to see if she even recognised her own name.

Partially opening her mouth Kumi stared at him intently, her fatigued mind working over time to try remember where she recognised that name from.  
“I think the girl just needs a few days to recollect some of her memories.” the ebony haired sage surmised, reaching out his hand to see if she were at least going to be obedient in the eyes of her new master. Having been scrutinising Kabuto the entire time, which had began to unsettle the introvert, the young Senju turned to look at Orochimaru instead, namely his offered hand. Who were these people?  
“I will leave her under your care.” the sage informed Kabuto, retracting his hand when he found all it did was make her stare at him instead. “Update me of any progress you have with her, I must concentrate on Sasuke Uchiha.” he stated, turning to leave.  
“Uch...” Kumi murmured once they were alone, gaining Kabuto's attention.  
“Hm?” he hummed, was she trying to say something or was she just voicing her discomfort again? Though she did not say another word after that Kumi could not have described the strange sensation of fear in that name, 'Uchiha', had she tried.

That next day Kumi had been moved to a different base out to the north, of which was comprised of massive stone pillars along a cliff side, the building she had been put into having been built in between two of these jagged towering obelisks. It had been Orochimaru's intention to see what exactly happens to a Senju under the influence of the earth seal, as so far Kumi had exhibited no sort of malicious or violent tendencies that had been observed in multiple other test subjects, however to get her to display any possible differences Kabuto first had to get her using her wood techniques again.  
Handing her a wooden block the grey-haired teen requested that she reshape it into something else as he wanted to first see how much more potent her techniques were. Looking down at the block Kumi shut her eyes and began to concentrate, her brow crinkling as she tried to change the object into something else. Eventually the young woman opened her hands to reveal she had turned the shapeless block into a simple frog.  
“Good.” the teen acknowledged, noting this on a bit of paper before stepping out of the way to reveal a far larger block of wood. “And again.” he stated simply, watching her wander over to it and look up.

Placing her hand onto the block Kumi shut her eyes again, her mouth opening slightly as she tried to concentrate on changing how the wooden block was shaped. Watching closely Kabuto observed the rough bark becoming scales, while some of the wood began to vanish to relocate itself into the shape of legs, feet, a tail and a head. It took the young woman quite some time, as it appeared to be a slow process, but eventually the wooden block had turned into a horned lizard. Noting this the teen then had Kumi try to make the lizard move, however no matter how much she tried the lizard refused to move.  
“Hm.” he hummed, noting that despite being able to move the wood into a new shape Kumi was unable to actually bring her creation to life. Handing her the frog she had created Kabuto requested that she start with this small sculpture, if she could make it move then she was to try again on something a little bigger and work her way up. In about a week, when he was free to come check up on her again, he would see what sort of progress she had made.


	4. Chapter 4

Being left to her own devices for a few days the young Senju had eventually managed to get the small frog to hop and open its mouth, but after she had achieved this she found herself bored and straying from the room to wander around. The gloomy corridors were quiet at this point in time, though from the days she had spent here already Kumi had come to the conclusion that it was always very quiet. Passing by a door the young woman heard muttering, her body coming to a halt as she slowly turned to look at the metal door. Stepping closer she began to listen to what was being said, her head lowering to see a small opening at the bottom of the door.  
Squatting down Kumi wrapped her arms around her knees and sat listening to them for a quiet moment.  
“I can hear them...” she heard them muttering. “I miss the birds...” they continued before falling silent. Glancing at the grate, before looking down at the wooden frog, Kumi closed her eyes and clasped the frog in her hands, changing it into a small wagtail instead. Thereafter she tried to get it to move, however the only thing she could really manage was to make it hop along. Maybe that would be enough?

Putting her hand out with the bird sitting on her palm Kumi allowed it to hop onto the opening and then vanish inside, her head then lowering to her crossed forearms as she remained squatted in front of the door trying to move the bird closer. Inside, a few minutes prior, the prisoner had been sitting with his back against a wall, his vision blacked out by his legs as he kept them up towards his face and his arms crossed over on his knees.  
“I can hear them...” he had murmured, however in truth there was nothing but silence and shadows surrounding him. “I miss the birds...” he continued, hearing something near his door which caused him to slowly lift his head. Who was there? Who was disturbing him when all he wanted was to be alone?  
Slowly his head rose further when he noticed something had been slipped through his door, but he was certain it was not food or water. Watching it hop closer the bulky teen slid his legs out in front of him ever so slightly.  
“Bird?” he quietly questioned, suddenly feeling ever so slightly calmer. Hopping towards him the bird seemed to finally stop, its tail flicking  
“It's a wagtail.” came a hushed, female voice from the door. With an intense stare the teen bore his crimson eyes into the small grate before looking back down at the bird that had stopped near the centre of the room. Stood there it flicked its tail and opened its mouth as if it were singing, however no noise flowed out of it.

Peering down at the grate Kumi began to chew on the corner of her bottom lip, he had not said anything since she had sent the bird in there. Getting to her feet Kumi decided to leave at that point, it seemed he did not want to talk to her.  
“I'll leave you alone now.” she informed them, standing up straight to see what was further down the corridor.  
“Wait!” they shouted, causing her to still and look down at the slot. “... Don't you want it back?” he carefully asked, sounding as though he had come closer to the door.  
“Oh...” she uttered slowly. “I gave it to you because you said you missed the birds.” she explained, hearing vague shuffling just behind the door.  
“Oh...” he murmured in response.  
“... Do you like birds?” she asked, able to make out the vague shape of feet through the gap in the door.  
“Yes.” he answered, able to see movement on the opposite side of the door.

Having shuffled nearer to the slot Kumi squatted down again to peep down at his toes.  
“Do you have a favourite bird?” she asked gently.  
“Kingfishers.” he replied, hearing a bit of shuffling on the other side of the door.  
“Oh,” he heard her say, her voice thick with disappointment. “I don't know what those look like.” she admitted, standing up straight yet again. “I'll need to look that up.” Kumi finally concluded, beginning to leave yet again. Confused as to who that was the teen stood there for a moment, his large hand hung open as he stared at the lifeless wooden bird he had been given. The last gift he had received was from Kimimaro a few years ago, back then the pair would see each other on a regular basis but he had not seen his friend in some time.  
Going back to where he had been sitting the teen did not see or hear from the girl again, his head back to resting on his arm as he sat in the dark.  
“They always leave... All of them.” he found himself reiterating several times over the next few days, his head raising when he heard a distinctive shuffle outside his door. Looking up through his tangled orange fringe the teen bore his eyes into the slot, his fiery red eyes flickering defensively. Who the hell was at his door now? And like before he was ready to go rip the door off of its hinges to get to whoever it was before he found himself slowly declining from boiling point to a violent simmer.

About to put her newest creation through the slot in the door the young woman froze in place when a guard came along and started mouthing off at her.  
“Oi, what are you doing?!” he questioned, having come around the corner to see someone looming about at one of the prime cell doors.  
“Oh, I was just-” Kumi tried to tell him, backing off when he took a kunai out of his fanny-pack.  
“You shouldn't be near the cell doors, I knew Kabuto should have locked you up when you got here.” he scolded her, his face screwing up a bit.  
“I was just talking to him.” she tried to explain, shaking her hands nervously.  
Coming towards her quickly, certain he was going to find somewhere to lock her up as soon as he had disciplined her the guard began to shout at her again.  
“Do you even know what might have happened if you had let that prisoner out!?” he then went onto question in a demanding voice, his hand grabbing her wrist to yank at her.  
“H-Hey, let go of me.” she protested, squirming in his grip before finding he was forced to let her go when the door came flying off of its hinges and flattened him against the wall. 

Flinching Kumi's eyes went wide, her body recoiling away as she gripped her aching wrist.  
“I got him, I killed him.” the teen growled as he stepped out into the corridor, on his face was a huge grin that made him look far too happy about what he had just done for the young woman's liking. Turning his crimson eyes landed on her and for a moment he looked the nervous female up and down, she was not even wearing prisoner clothing but a plain blue kimono. “You shouldn't be here!” he seethed, turning to come towards her. If she was neither a guard or a prisoner then who the hell was she? Surprisingly, despite him being the exact same height as her, he was incredibly intimidating, especially when he had a patch of grey skin covering one side of his face and one piercing golden eye surrounded by an ebony sclera.  
“Ah, I know, I just uh-” she stammered, flinching when he lunged towards her, her first immediate thought being to hold out the bird she had made so he could see it and shout. “I wanted to give you this!” she exclaimed, pushing her neck down onto her shoulders as she recoiled her body back so she stood at a tilt, her arms extended far out in front of her.

Stopping the second he saw something in her hands the prisoner looked down at a small wooden bird sitting there, his expression going from mitigated hate to confusion.  
“What?” he questioned roughly, his arm which had been up and ready to punch her into oblivion lowering slowly.  
“Ah, uh... You said you liked kingfishers, so I made you one.” she whimpered, slowly opening one of her squeezed shut eyelids to carefully look at him. Now even more confused the redhead lowered his arm completely until it hung by his side, the weird discolouration on his face beginning to retreat away from his eye, revealing that he in fact had two crimson iris' and natural skin underneath the demarcation. “It- It sings, too. If it's windy, or you blow into its tail.” she explained, watching him take it from her slowly to look at.  
Upon closer examination he could see that its neck, chest and bottom beak were actually a whistle, while the underside of its tail had a dip that allowed room for a hidden reed water-wheel between its legs that could catch and push air up through the whistle. Clearly the girl, whoever she was, had put a lot of thought, time and effort into making this for him. Why she had made it for him was what truly made him wonder.  
“Why are you giving me these?” he asked, finally looking up at her.  
“... Somehow...” Kumi replied vaguely, trying to think of a reason herself. “Somehow it felt nice.” she finally evaluated, not too sure why making him little figurines pleased her so much.

It felt like there was a deeper reason as to why she had spent the last few days perfecting the bird for him.  
“Like I was making something because I wanted to, rather than just to satisfy...” Kumi murmured, trying to figure out if this were perhaps part of a forgotten memory. No matter how hard she strained to remember none of it was coming back however, the only thing she felt she could hang onto was the sensation the hidden memory was bringing her. Feeling a little safer now the young Senju began to straight herself to stand in a more natural position, however she could not relax in the slightest just yet.  
“Who are you?” he asked. “You don't look like a prisoner...” he admitted, deciding she was far too kind to be any sort of guard.  
“Kumi Senju.” she informed him. “Kabuto brought me here to experiment on me.” she added, seeing he had, for the most part, returned to normal.  
“So you're cursed?” he asked, glancing at her covered up neck.  
“Cursed...?” Kumi questioned, her strange, natural smile turning to confusion.  
“There should be a mark on your neck from where Orochimaru bit you.” he pointed out quietly, his voice back to the same soft tone that he had used inside his prison.

Frowning Kumi tugged on her kimono, pulling out a hidden hand mirror from within it to look at her neck. Spotting the three leaf-shaped symbols sitting there the young Senju crinkling her eyebrows, how long had that been there for?  
“Bit me...” she murmured, crinkling her eyebrows together as a memory suddenly flickered through her thoughts, her eyebrows rising. “He bit me...” she gasped, another memory flicking through her mind. “I was kidnapped!” she realised, some of her most recent memories coming flooding back to her.  
“Orochimaru kidnaps a lot of people. He brings them here to experiment on in his attempt to find a cure for me.” the redhead explained, only making her more distraught.  
“I have to get out of here.” Kumi stated firmly, having no real idea where to go once she escaped. Where was she even from?  
“No one escapes here, this prison was built to keep me in and the world out.” he informed her, watching her frown sternly.  
“You broke that door, you can help me break out!” she pressed, his expression growing nervous.  
“No, I can't...” he murmured, looking away from her.

Growing confused Kumi tried to draw his line of sight back to her.  
“Yes you can, you took down a six-inches thick door!” the young Senju reminded him, pointing to the door before stilling. There was copious amounts of blood trailing down the wall and across the floor now, the gory sight only just hitting her. “Oh, Kami.” she uttered, looking away from the corpse. “I think I'm going to be sick.” she then moaned, clutching her stomach. Stiffening the redhead glanced at his cell for a moment, contemplating whether he would let her use his bathroom. No one was allowed in his room, Orochimaru could barely step inside without him wishing to tear his throat out every few seconds. He had even muttered about it while the sage was collecting blood samples from him.  
“Y-You can use my bathroom...” he finally offered, looking at the woman who was now hunched over away from him with her hand over her mouth. Turning with the intention of looking up Kumi gagged when she saw his feet were pooled in blood, her form disappearing into his cell to find the bathroom.

Sitting outside in his usual position the teen had been listening to her coughing up for a good while now.  
“Oh, oh Kami...” he heard her groaning, followed by the third flush in ten minutes. Slowly Kumi then staggered out of the bathroom with a pale face, her eyebrows crinkled together tightly. “I wouldn't go in there for a few hours...” she stated, closing the door to keep the smell in. “I'm so sorry.” she then sighed, looking down at him as he sat hunched up against his legs with his back to the wall. “I'll go get some air-fresheners from my room.” she promised, taking a moment to examine the large, incredibly empty room. It was certainly spacious, however it did not appear all that homely. “Do you live in here?” she asked, seeing the little wooden birds she had made him were perched on his shoulders.  
“Yes.” he answered, looking up at her with a sombre expression.  
Staring at him Kumi could not help but note that, when he was not incredibly angry, he was actually quite attractive, not only that but he was also pretty muscular for someone who looked so young.  
“How old are you?” she asked, guessing he was at least younger than her.  
“Seventeen.” he answered, not entirely sure why she wanted to know.  
“So a year younger than me.” she acknowledged, looking him up and down. “You're a big guy for a seventeen-year-old, have you stopped growing?” Kumi asked, wondering if his size was to prepare him for a massive growth-spurt.  
“I don't know.” he replied, starting to become annoyed by all her questions.

Able to see his forlorn expression beginning to dissipate to be replaced with that same small flicker of something unpleasant Kumi fell silent, her head lifting to look around again. There was absolutely nothing in here besides a bathroom sink, shower and a toilet, there was not even a bed for him to sleep on. Glancing at him again the young woman noted his grey shorts and simple t-shirt, was he not cold? About to ask him whether he would like socks the young woman could see he looked even more pissed off than before, her stomach churning as she realised she had over-stayed her welcome.  
“I'll get that air-freshener for you.” she informed him quietly, heading to the door with her head tilted up so she could not see the body or the blood. Halfway down the corridor she pulled her head down to see numerous guards were huddled together with weapons, they looked both terrified and confused.  
“Is he... is he still angry?” one nervously asked, tensing when the redhead came out to pick up the heavy door and put it back how it was meant to be.

Looking down the corridor at them the guards seemed to contemplate facing off against him, that was they did until he turned to face them. At that point they scattered when his nostrils flared, leaving Kumi to stand there watching them flee. They certainly were not very good guards if they were terrified of one person when there were six of them. Heading to her room the young woman rummaged through the things they had brought her, things she assumed were hers before they kidnapped her. One of the kimono looked brand new as well, as it was white with a red flower on it. Eventually she found an can of air-freshener and turned to go bring it to the redhead, her feet almost flying out of her sandals when she turned and found Kabuto standing there.  
“What were you doing wandering the compound?” he asked simply, pushing his glasses up.  
“I needed a break.” she explained, glancing at the can in her hand. It seemed giving it to him would have to wait.  
“You set off a prisoner and killed a guard.” the medical-nin reminded her sternly.  
“I... A guard thought I was trying to free someone, and then the prisoner crushed him with the door. I didn't think he'd be able to even break through it...” she explained, not about to take the blame for something she did not intentionally cause.

Sighing Kabuto rubbed his eyes, perhaps letting her wander freely had been a poor decision on his part.  
“I was going to congratulate you on your progress in speech but instead I come here to this.” he muttered, looking down at his clipboard. “Have you at least gotten any progress done in your wood technique?” he then questioned, hoping to have some good news to bring back to Orochimaru. He was not going to be pleased to hear that Jūgo had killed yet another prison guard, but maybe when he told him he could lighten the blow by informing him it was only one person this time.  
“Yeah, I can make birds and frogs move now.” Kumi answered, picking up a bit of wood to turn it into a bird to show him.  
“Very good.” he acknowledged, glancing at the small traces of blood on her sandals. “What did you do to confront the prisoner, Jūgo, and live?” he decided to ask, assuming pretty quickly that it was not her blood on the bottom of her shoes.  
“I brought him one of my bird sculptures, but... I think the surprise is what calmed him down, rather than the gift.” Kumi explained and admitted, pretty sure that that would not work a second time.

Noting this down to bring back to the sage Kabuto then brought up one other question that had been on his mind.  
“And how did you manage to spend time in his cell? He will normally kill anyone, other than myself and Orochimaru, for trespassing.” he questioned.  
“I was ill after seeing blood so he let me use his bathroom.” Kumi stated, still feeling a tad queasy. “Can I ask you a question now?” she then requested, being reminded of the curse on her neck.  
“Very well.” Kabuto agreed, prepared to answer her question to the best of his abilities.  
“Why did you kidnap me and curse me? It came back to me earlier when I saw my neck in the mirror.” the young Senju asked, giving him a stern stare.  
'So her memories have returned also.' Kabuto silently acknowledged, questioning how he should handle this situation. “Orochimaru is desperate to figure out how Jūgo's uncontrollable rage works, being that you are a Senju with the rare affinity for wood techniques he needed you to continue his study of the rare affliction.” the grey-haired teen tried to explain.  
“But you did all that against my will.” she coldly reminded him.  
“Yes, Orochimaru can be incredibly... eccentric at the best of times. He did it with your best intentions at heart, however.” Kabuto stated, attempting to sugar-coat the situation. 

At this point Kumi began to lower her brow.  
“Best intentions? You kidnapped me.” she reiterated through clenched teeth.  
“Only because he feared your life was in danger had he did not intervened when he did.” Kabuto argued, her angry expression turning to confusion and curiosity.  
“What do mean my life was in danger?” the young Senju questioned, she was pretty sure the only people who had put her life in danger was them.  
“An organisation, known as the Akatsuki, had caught wind that you were outside the safety of the Sand Village. Your ancestry and abilities are not a game.” the teen stated firmly. “Had they gotten to you before us you would be dead right now.” he coldly informed her, to which her face calmed a little.  
“Dead?” she questioned, why did this 'organisation' want her dead?

Trying to think how he should explain this to her in a way she would understand Kabuto flicked through his file on the young woman and soon held up a wanted poster. At first Kumi looked confused but the more she stared at it the more she began to remember, that woman in the mug-shot was her mother.  
“From the information I gathered your mother and father were rebels during a time of war between two countries, your father was assassinated and your mother was forced to flee with you. She inevitably sought asylum in the Country of Wind because it was the only place no one could find you.” Kabuto explained, allowing her to take the old bounty sheet to look at. “That bounty was recently nullified after it was discovered your mother had died during poor health, no one knew she had a daughter until word spread of a Senju resurfacing. You can thank the Hokage for that.” the teen continued, whilst she just stared intently at the photo of her mother. Everything was coming back to her now, the Sand Village, her mother, Gaara. Even why she had left the village in the first place.  
“So I have people out for my head?” Kumi asked, coming to terms with the situation as he gave her a simple nod. “But I'm not a nin, why would they come after me?” she questioned with a frown.  
“The enemy country your mother and father fought in want anyone related to them dead, even if that means killing one of the last living Senju.” he explained delicately.

Screwing up her features the young woman could not help but feel both responsible for all this and also lied to. Had Gaara known all along this was why she was not allowed to leave the village, did his siblings know? Why had her mother not told her from the beginning that their lives were at risk, chances were Kumi would never have questioned her mother or Gaara's orders had she known about this.  
“So, what, I'm safer here now than in the Sand Village?” she asked, clearly frustrated.  
“Yes. They know where you live now, multiple assassins have already been sent to find you out in the Country of Wind. You're safe here because no one knows where you are.” Kabuto stated clearly, hoping this would finally garner her trust.  
“And the curse, was that necessary? You've brought me here to run experiments on me.” Kumi reminded him, telling him that this was going to be harder than he thought.  
“You were a civilian with no combat skills, Orochimaru cursed you because he knew it was the only way you were going to be able to protect yourself from the inevitable. The sage is about preserving life, not seeing it snuffed out. That is why he wishes to save not only you, a Senju, but one of the last surviving Uchiha as well. Another clan that the Akatsuki would gladly see exterminated given the chance.” Kabuto stated firmly, her ears prickling to the word 'Uchiha.' Narrowing her gaze the young woman continued to question Kabuto and Orochimaru's motives, there was definitely more to this than 'preserving life', a far darker agenda was hidden underneath the surface somewhere. If they were willing to experiment on countless people just to help one person then what sort of people were they truly?  
“You'll no doubt meet Sasuke Uchiha if he agrees to take Orochimaru up on his offer, he feels a union of the two factions, that have been at war for hundreds of years, is what is needed to keep you both alive.” he concluded, noting in his documents that he would need to inform the sage of Kumi's reformed memories.

Left to her own devices once again the young woman sat working on her sculptures for another week, however today she had decided to spend time growing plants in her room. Having had time to herself Kumi had used her abilities to transform a corner of the room into a crop, allowing her to place down fertiliser and plant vegetables she could instantly grow on the spot. From then on she had requested they stopped bringing her the horrible slop that was provided to all of the prisoners, and at first the guards had thought she was taking a strop until they came in one afternoon with her dinner to see her sitting at a wooden table she had created, chowing down on a three-course meal. After that they stopped showing up at her door unless it was during their weekly inspection of her room to make sure she was not either trying to escape or harbouring an escaped prisoner.  
Stood cooking her dinner on a make-shift hob that was meant for camping Kumi had had her back to the door at the time, her concentration solely on making sure she did not burn her stir-fry. All had been moderately quiet in the hallway this evening as she turned off the hob, but that quickly changed when her door came hurtling off of its hinges and impaled itself into her wooden sculpture of a rabbit. Jumping out of her skin Kumi whipped her head round to see Jūgo entering to look at her. Half of his body had warped itself into a massive scaled arm, his huge hand gripping a guard by the back of his clothes. From what she could quickly deduce the man was already dead, his body falling limp and quickly revealing his neck had been snapped.

Flicking her eyes up to look at the redhead coming towards her Kumi flattened her lips, was this a common occurrence here in the prison for this guy to escape? And why did it feel like he had come looking for her specifically?  
“Hey... youuu!” the young Senju greeted him in a high-pitched voice, trying to hide how unnerved she was by the sinister look in his eyes. “You're just in time for dinner!” she continued, feeling her brow beginning to sweat as she tried to scoot out from between the cooker and him as he pursued to close the gap.  
“Come here!” he snapped, trying to grab her as she leapt backwards out of his grasp and turned to try run off further into the room.  
“No, no I'm quite fine!” she squeaked, gasping when he swung his arm out and managed to hook it around her waist and yank her back towards him. “Put me down, put me down!” she protested, wriggling in his grasp until he grabbed the top of her head and gripped her tightly. Since he was the same height as her he could not pull her off of her feet at least, but even with her feet firmly on the ground it still did not make the situation any better.  
“He's dead.” Jūgo murmured into her ear, causing her terrified confusion to change only slightly.  
“I- I'm sure he's just sleeping...” Kumi uttered, looking at the guard whose head was twisted upwards at such an angle that only an owl was capable of.  
“No! He's not!” the enraged teen shouted, his grip on her tightening. Hissing into clenched teeth the young woman took a breather than he stopped squeezing her again.  
“I-I'm sure he is?” she tried again nervously, gasping when she found herself falling backwards as he dropped down into a sitting position with her on his lap. Continuing to keep his arms wrapped around her Jūgo stuck his head into the crook of her neck, her hair covering his face as he inhaled, the scent of earth and herbs soothing his senses.

Sitting there for a good ten minutes in utter silence Kumi continued to roll her fingers across his arm in a vain attempt to soothe him, though it did not seem to be working as his arm was still disfigured.  
“Jūgo?” she questioned gently, trying to move enough that she could turn around and look at him. A decision which was immediately proven to be a bad one as his grip on her drew dangerously close to cracking one of her ribs. “Jūgo, s-stop...” she whispered. “I understand how upset you are, but you're going to squish me.” Kumi gasped, feeling as though her ribs were going to pierce into her organs at this point. Feeling as though she had just been constricted by a snake the young woman began to cough when he finally released her, her lungs filling with oxygen sharply.  
“Stop moving.” he warned her, to which she was more than willing to comply.  
Again the pair sat there in total silence for a good hour, the young Senju's mind whirring as she tried to think of a way out of this that did not involve getting her head popped off by him crushing her.  
“Jūgo... are you hungry?” she whispered, looking up at the table where her dinner was. By now it was probably stone cold.  
“No.” he replied with a small mutter, feeling Kumi's rump roll from left to right against his pelvis as she tried to change position ever so slightly when it began to grow uncomfortable.  
“A-Are you cold?” she asked, more than aware of the little clothing he was actually wearing.  
“No.” he stated, far firmer with his voice this time.

Giving the floor a defeated stare the young woman glanced around her room again, surely there was something she could do that did not involve resorting to violence.  
“Do it again.” Jūgo requested, not quite a demand just yet.  
“Do... what?” Kumi asked, not aware she had done anything besides ask him tedious questions to try escape his grasp.  
“That thing with your hips.” the redhead stated firmly, only making her even more confused. What thing with her hips? “This.” he then murmured, pushing her from left to right a little rougher than perhaps he had intended.  
“Oh.” she realised, he was referring to when she had been shifting her hips because she was uncomfortable. 'Wait... what?' she inwardly questioned after a momentary pause, about to do as he requested if it meant he was less inclined to flip and snap her neck. “Wait, why?” she questioned nervously.  
“It felt good.” Jūgo answered simply, his grip tightening again as she straightened and tensed.  
“Yes, of course, j-just don't squeeze me again.” Kumi spluttered, feeling his arms loosen again.


	5. Chapter 5

Awkwardly sitting there the young Senju rolled her hips against his pelvis, her face turning redder and redder the longer she was made to do this. It did not help that the young woman was certain she could feel something beginning to press against her through the fabric of her kimono. Hearing a weird noise the young woman carefully creaked her head round to look at him, his eyes were closed as he bit his lip, a small trickle of blood slipping down from where he had bit himself too hard. Feeling her lips flatten out and her eyes close that little bit more Kumi questioned this entire situation, he was certainly enjoying the sensation of her grinding against him but did he actually know exactly why that was?  
“Jūgo...?” Kumi questioned, stopping to try regain his attention.  
“Why did you stop?” he asked, opening his eyes to give her shoulder a clouded stare that would quickly vanish the longer she was not grinding.  
“I uh... I had an idea what might make your feel better.” she murmured, noting that he did look a little more relaxed than before. “Not... Not here though.” she continued, feeling way too close to the door for her own comfort.

Thankfully he complied, if after a good bit of stubbornness on her end, and followed her deeper into her room to go to a separated area she had converted into a bedroom.  
“L-Lay down on the bed...” she requested, shutting her door after making sure no one was watching.  
“Why?” he questioned suspiciously, giving her a questioning stare.  
“It'll make things easier.” Kumi explained, watching him get onto the bed and shuffle over so he was laying on the middle of it. Despite still being partially transformed he was at least complying with her requests, which made things a little easier for her. This was certainly the most uncomfortable thing she had ever done however, the most she had ever done was take off her top in front of Gaara and let him look at her chest, and even then the sand-nin had not even looked all that interested.  
'Okay... I can do this.' Kumi told herself, sitting down beside him before tugging a blanket over herself and his hips.  
“What are you doing?” he questioned, pulling himself up onto his elbows to look down at her.  
“Oh, I uh...” she stammered, her cheeks turning red again. “I can't do it while you're looking.” she explained, her hand gripping the hem of his shorts.

Looking between her and his shorts the teen looked back up at her, his body dragging itself up into a sitting position as she sat up straight.  
“Do what?” Jūgo questioned, not entirely sure he trusted this woman.  
“I was going to give you a.. you know...” she explained, her attempts to verbally imply what she meant going right over his head.  
“No. I don't know.” the redhead stated simply, looking back down at where her hand had been. “Why do you want my shorts off?” he then questioned, his voice now a bit more demanding.  
“M-Maybe this was a bad idea.” Kumi admitted, turning to sit on the edge of the bed with both feet on the ground.  
“What was?” he asked, getting more irate the longer she refused to answer his questions.  
“I.. uh.. Has Kabuto, or Orochimaru, gave you the.. birds and the bees talk?” the young woman asked, unsure she had ever thought she would need to have this conversation with anyone other than that bag of rocks, Gaara.  
“... No?” the teen answered after giving it a lot of thought.  
“Well, what do you know about... sexual relationships?” she tried again, surely they had spoken to him about it, for goodness sake he was seventeen-years-old.

Staring at her with his mouth ajar Kumi slowly allowed her face to flatten out all over again.  
'Oh Kami, another bag of rocks.' she thought to herself, her cheeks beginning to grow flush again.  
“Okay... Well, I'm sure you've noticed there are some pretty big differences between boys and girl.” she tried to explain, staring at the wall for a moment before turning to examine Jūgo. “I... I'm sure you know that?” Kumi questioned, only getting another confused looking stare. “I mean, physically, boys... they're different.” she stammered, whilst Jūgo just sat there peering at her with his vacant face. “They have something that girls don't have.” she tried to emphasise, giving him a hopeful look.  
“Yeah?” he questioned, however it seemed he did not know what she was getting at and actually wanted her to tell him.  
“Something...” she began, trying to find the words.  
“You mean a penis?” he finally asked, her expression dropping to give him a plain stare.

Watching her pale skin begin to flood with red Jūgo blinked a little, had he said something wrong?  
“Yes.. Yes, boys have those and women don't!” Kumi stated in a high-pitched voice, letting out an awkward 'heh'. 'Oh Kami, why me?' the young woman questioned silently. “A-Anyway...” she stammered, trying to calm herself down. “When a boy gets to a particular age he'll start to have feelings for a girl, and these feelings can lead to... sex...” she tried to explain shyly, unable to look at him. “You're aware of what sex is, right?” she asked, glancing at him slowly when he did not reply.  
“Not really...” he informed her, causing her to inwardly groan.  
“Well, sex is when you put your-” she began, coughing awkwardly. “penis... inside a woman's... vagina.” she coughed out.  
“Oh.” he replied after a long pause, fully reverting back to his normal form. “Is that what you were doing before?” he asked rather bluntly.  
“Ahh, no... That was grinding.” she shyly uttered, covering her mouth behind her knuckle. “It was sort of like... masturbating. Which is why you were enjoying it.” Kumi explained carefully, watching his eyes lower down to his crotch again. “You can, you can do that to yourself as well, which is fairly common amongst men...” she added, flicking her eyes away.

After another moment of silence Jūgo eventually spoke.  
“Do women?” he questioned, not entirely sure if they could if they did not have a penis.  
“Yes, they do... I uh.. I don't know if it's as common as men though.” she admitted, not exactly being the best person to talk to about these sorts of things.  
“Do you?” he then asked bluntly, making it feel as though time had immediately stopped for her. Slowly she creaked her head round to look at him, had he seriously just asked her that?  
“No!” she gasped, waving her hands. “I wouldn't even know how.” she admitted. “I uh, I was sort of waiting for my boyfriend to... uh.. you know.” she murmured, rubbing her thighs awkwardly. “But I guess that was never going to happen anyway.” she continued, her voice slowly growing quiet. Watching her still Jūgo stared at her, his mouth opening to speak before then second guessing himself for a moment.  
“What do you mean?” he asked.  
“My boyfriend was, uh... How do I put this nicely.” she spoke, giving it a bit of thought. “A bag of rocks.” she stated.

Blinking a few times the redhead gave her a confused frown.  
“Your boyfriend was made of rocks? Like a clone?” he questioned, not quite understanding her analogy.  
“Of course not!” she tutted, frowning at him gingerly. “I mean he wasn't really... sexually active.” she iterated. “Not that we could, there was a barrier between us.” the young woman sighed. “A big, sandy barrier.” she grumbled, frowning all the more. “You know... I think he was asexual.” she admitted after some thought.  
“Asexual?” Jūgo asked, feeling she was losing him in all these terms now.  
“He never seemed interested in the idea of a sexual relationship.” Kumi answered, squeezing her knees before letting out a deep sigh.  
“Is that necessary in a relationship, to... want to have sex?” the redhead questioned, pulling his legs in so he could cross them.

About to immediately say 'yes' Kumi paused, her arching mouth sitting ajar for a moment.  
“No, no I guess not.” she murmured gently, looking down at her hands. “I'm sure plenty of relationships have worked out just fine without any kind of sex involved, but...” she paused, thinking over what she had wanted out of it. “I don't think I could have stayed in a relationship with him forever.” she admitted.  
“Forever?” Jūgo questioned, looking highly sceptical of such a notion. Was 'forever' even possible? He did not believe it was when everyone he loved and knew eventually turned their back on him.  
“Well, yeah... Some men and women are happy going from person to person, a lot of people do in the nin world. When you have to leave for months on end to fight, and potentially never come home, it's better to live alone than have a relationship.” she explained, starting to understand why her mother had wanted her to find a nice civilian, in a similar situation to her own, to marry.

Eventually Jūgo had fallen asleep on her bed, allowing her to go clean up the mess in her room. At least this body was not covered in blood, making it a little easier for her to look at it as she past by and went to find someone to take the corpse.  
“He's asleep in my room... I'll get him to go back to his cell once he's ready.” Kumi informed the one guard she had managed to find. “Thanks for taking the body... I'll fix my door myself.” she sighed, moving one of her large statues to get it to pick up the door for her and move it towards the entrance. “I think I need a new door.” she then admitted, seeing just how bent it was.  
“You're out of your mind letting that guy stay anywhere near you.” the guard muttered quietly as he zipped up the body bag.  
“He's okay when he's calm.” Kumi replied with her arms crossed as she gazed at her closed bedroom door. “I'd hate to make him really angry though.” she admitted, not wishing to end up like either of the guards she had seen die at his hands so far.  
“Everything sets that guy off. I once sneezed and he went berserk because I frightened one of his birds. Took 'em away after that.” the guard informed her, dragging the body out the door. “Bloody insane, that guy. Getting angry over a bloody animal.” he muttered, vanishing down the corridor.

Frowning at his last comment Kumi sighed softly and looked back at the metal door that had taken a horrible beating from Jūgo, perhaps she should implement a wooden door. Just in case he dropped in uninvited again. Deciding she would do this the young Senju created a wooden door and replaced it into the opening, her head turning to look towards her bedroom again.  
'I wonder how long he'll be asleep for.' she wondered, yawning gently before she went to see if her stone cold dinner was still edible. 'Guess I'm having salad.' she murmured, tipping it into a bowl before sitting herself down to eat. Again the building had fallen into silence, allowing her time to think and practise her jutsu after finishing her meal. A little while later Kumi had began trying to practise with her guitar again. Over the last two weeks she had been trying to write a new song, something she had done from time to time after starting her job in the Sand Village bar as an entertainer. Since she had no means of making money through doing missions she had ended up taking on a small job instead. Strumming a guitar Kumi glanced at the metal door to her bedroom, waiting to see if she obtained any response. When she found there was none she ran her fingers down the strings again, keeping her eyes firmly on the door. She had no idea how Jūgo would take to being woken up by noise and, quite frankly, she did not want to find out.

Certain the door was blocking out the noise she was making Kumi began to try remember the cords to the song she had been trying to teach herself. At the time, back in the village, her boss had given her ten specific songs to sing on repeat every night, and by the fourth month of doing this she had began to grow sick of it. Why no one in the village ever wrote music was beyond her understanding.  
“ _He greets me with kisses when good days deceive him and sometimes with scorn; and sometimes I believe him, and sometimes I'm convinced that my friends think I'm crazy. I get scared and call him but he's usually hazy at one in the morning_.” Kumi murmured, her eyes having diverted down to the strings to watch what she was doing. “ _I can't control you, I don't know you well. These are the reasons I think that you're ill, I can't control you, I don't know you well and these are the reasons I think that you're ill_.” Kumi sang, writing down anything new she could think of to add to the song as she went.

Having added more to the song Kumi sat up straight again, pulling the guitar close to her chest to continue.  
_“And since last that we parted, last that I saw him, down by a river, silent and hardened. Morning was mocking us, blood hit the sky. I was just happy, my manic and I. He couldn't see me, the sun was in his eyes, and birds were singing to calm us down, and birds were singing to calm us down_.” the young woman continued, obtaining an idea for how she could continue the song from their previous conversation. “ _And I'm sorry, young man, I cannot be your friend; I don't believe in a fairytale end. I don't keep my head up all of the time, I find it dull when my heart meets my mind, and I hardly know you. I think I can tell these are the reasons I think that we're ill. I hardly know you, I think I can tell these are the reasons I think that I'm ill_.” Kumi continued, scribbling onto her notepad to try figure out what should be her chorus and what should be the continuation of the song.

By the late evening Kumi was sitting at her table yawning, now that she really needed her bed she was not entirely sure she was glad Jūgo had fallen asleep in there. Getting to her feet Kumi got changed into her pyjamas in her bathroom before heading to her room, the door slowly creaking open so that she could quietly look inside to see if he was still asleep. Finding he was actually sitting up with his head against his knees, which seemed to be his preferred position, Kumi straightened up and stood in the doorway.  
“Jūgo?” she questioned quietly, not too sure if he were asleep like that or not. Without saying anything the redhead slowly raised his head to look at her, his red eyes peering at her through the darkness.  
Frowning the young woman came over to him, why was he sitting in here in the dark if he was awake?  
“Shut the door.” he requested plainly, to which she glanced at it before doing as he asked, plunging them into darkness.  
“Are you okay?” she asked gently, making sure he was not going to suddenly flip out again.  
“I couldn't sleep for long.” he admitted, lowering his head back into his crossed arms to hide his face. Giving him a soft look the young woman got onto the bed to sit next to him, her legs remaining stretched out together to let her feet hang over the edge of the bed.  
“Do you want to talk about it?” she questioned carefully. “I understand how heartbreaking it can be when you lose someone.” she continued, her mind wandering off to her mother.

Sitting there in silence Jūgo said nothing whilst Kumi continued to try to adjust her eyes to the darkness around them. Sucking on her bottom-lip the young woman tried to keep herself busy without fidgeting too much, the last thing she needed was for him to get annoyed at her when she was unable to actually see his face and judge whether she should stop what she was doing or not.  
“I heard you outside earlier talking funny.” he stated after a long pause.  
“Ah, er, you did?” she questioned, now feeling awkward about it.  
“Can we really not be friends?” he asked quietly, confusing her for a moment.  
“What?” she enquired at first, her mind flickering when she realised what he meant. “Oh, no, of course we can be friends!” she stuttered, shaking her hands. “It was just a song.” she reassured him, realising the 'funny talking' he had heard was her singing.  
“A song?” he asked, turning his head to look at her from over his upper-arm.  
“Yeah...” she reiterated gently.  
“I don't know what that is.” the redhead informed her quietly.  
“Heh?” Kumi mused, the cogs in her head turning. “Ehhh?” she then questioned, becoming surprised as she turned to look at him in shock. “But I thought this was the country with a village called 'sound', surely you know what music is?” the young Senju asked.

Raising his head Jūgo pouted at her slightly, what was she on about?  
“It's just a name. The Fire Country isn't really made of fire...” he informed her, to which she grew silent again.  
“Ohh.... that's really upsetting.” the young woman admitted, rather disappointed that the village had nothing to actually do with sound.  
“Why?” he asked, raising his head to lean it against the wall instead.  
“Music is really fun, it's a bit weird you don't know what a song is though.” she uttered, frowning a little. “Haven't you ever heard someone sing before?” Kumi enquired.  
“No. I normally don't have the patience to be around anyone for long, I prefer being in isolation most of the time.” the redhead informed her.  
“But don't you like birds?” she asked, knitting her eyebrows together. “Birds sing all the time, so I would have thought you'd know what singing was...” she murmured in thought.  
“Birds chirp and whistle...” he replied quietly, beginning to feel like she was starting to mock him.  
“Oh, well... Some people consider them singers, I guess, maybe, that's where singing came from; wanting to sound as beautiful as a bird.” the young woman surmised.

Staring at her Jūgo's forlorn expression slowly drifted back to him as he thought about all the birds he missed being able to listen to again.  
“Can you 'sing' like a bird?” he asked, wondering if maybe she could mimic one.  
“No, I don't think my singing is that pretty.” she admitted. “I can't really whistle either.” she added, pursing her lips together to try, only for a weird, flat noise to come out between her teeth instead.  
“How do you sing then?” he questioned, to which she glanced at him.  
“Oh uh... Like this.” she murmured, clearing her throat. “ _He said come wander with me, love, come wander with me. Away from this sad world, come wander with me_.” Kumi sang with her head turned away before stopping to look at him again. “I'm not very good though.” she admitted bashfully.  
“Why'd you stop?” he questioned, causing her to blush a little.  
“I didn't think you'd like my singing.” Kumi uttered nervously.  
“No, I like it...” he admitted, placing his head onto his arms once she had began singing again.  
“ _He came from the sunset, he came from the sea, he came from my sorrow and can love only me. Oh, where is the wanderer who wandered this way_?” Kumi continued, her eyes closed as she tried to imagine the cords she would be strumming.

Listening to her with his own eyes closed Jūgo began to relax, his body shifting ever so slightly to the right so that he could brush against her.  
“ _He's passed on his wandering and will never go away. He sang of a sweet love, of dreams that would be; but I was sworn to another, and could never be free. Oh, where is the wanderer who wandered this way? He said come wander with me, love, come wander with me. Away from this sad world, come wander with me_.” the young Senju concluded, feeling his weight shifting until his shoulder was against hers.  
“Why'd you stop this time?” he asked quietly, feeling strangely at peace.  
“I didn't write much else for that song.” the young woman admitted quietly.  
“Do you know any other songs?” Jūgo questioned, not wanting her to stop so soon.  
“Oh, hm...” she uttered, trying to think of something else to sing.  
Giving it a lot of thought Kumi took a small breath.  
“I sort of wrote this when I was angry at my boyfriend a few weeks ago so it's pretty basic...” she informed him, straightening up her back. “ _Did you ever think of me as your best friend, did I ever think of you? I'm not complaining. I never tried to feel, I never tried to feel this vibration. I never tried to reach, I never tried to reach your Eden_.” Kumi sang, her eyes closed again. “ _Did I ever think of you as my enemy, did you ever think of me? I'm complaining. I never tried to feel, I never tried to feel this vibration. I never tried to reach, I never tried to reach your Eden_.” the young Senju concluded, feeling his weight beginning to shove her sideways.  
Confused Kumi looked down at the top of his head which was now on her shoulder, apparently he had fallen asleep. Shifting slightly so that she could slide his head down onto her lap Kumi allowed him to settle into her, his discomforted expression relaxing soon after. Quietly she began to play with the ends of his spiky orange hair after that, a small amount of surprise rising within her when she found it was quite soft rather than coarse, which had been her expectation at first. Slowly the corners of her lips began to curl, he had started softly snoring.  
'… How sweet.' she thought to herself quietly, shutting her eyes to try get some sleep too.

Stirring from her sleep that morning Kumi hummed quietly and rubbed her head against the warm object she was nestled into, her eyes slowly opening to look down across someone's stomach to see her legs curled around their head.  
“Hm?” she murmured, rubbing her eye to try clear away her blurry vision. “Jūgo?” she questioned, finally recognising who it was. Beginning to remember what had happened last night the young woman looked around her room as she pulled her shorts down at the back to stop them clinging to her.  
“Mmm.” the redhead began to grumble, one of his eyes slowly opening to give the ceiling a grumpy stare.  
“Morning.” Kumi greeted him quietly, gaining his attention as he rubbed his forehead. Pouting a little Jūgo sat up onto his elbow and ran his fingers through his fringe.  
“Did I fall asleep?” he asked, unable to tell how long he had been out since the room was still pitch black.  
“We both did I guess.” the white haired girl answered, slipping off of the bed to stumble towards the door. “What do you want for breakfast?” she questioned, opening the door to let the cold air and light enter the room.  
“Breakfast?” Jūgo replied, pulling a face as he got to his warm feet and found the floor to be unpleasantly cold.

Looking around himself as he followed her to the kitchen Jūgo pulled out a seat and sat himself down, admittedly this was a very unusual start to his morning. Normally he woke up on the hard floor and was greeted with whatever gruel it was the guards had brought him.  
“Do you like gohan and natto?” Kumi asked, rummaging around in her cupboard for the ingredients she would need.  
“I don't know...” he answered, having never eaten anything other than the slop they served here and the occasional fish he had managed to catch when he was living in forest caves alone.  
“I'll give you a little natto, some people don't like how slimy it is.” she admitted, going about preparing him something to eat so that she could go shower and get changed whilst he was distracted. Handing him a bowl of each Kumi set aside some for herself and began to leave. “I'm gonna have a shower and get changed, if you want more just help yourself to the pot on the stove.” she informed him, vanishing out of the door with a smile when she saw he was too busy stuffing his face with her cooking to respond.  
For the next few days Jūgo had been moderately well behaved once he had gone back to his cell, giving Kumi a few more days of peace and quiet to train and practise her jutsu, however this all changed when she found his outbursts had become ridiculously repetitive, no where was safe when he always seemed to find her. He had pounced her in the corridor one afternoon, jumped her whilst she was working on a wooden sculpture one early morning, and he had even broken down her bedroom door whilst she was asleep, scaring her half to death, in the middle of the night, but the icing on the cake was the morning he broke into her bathroom.

At the time she had been quietly standing in the shower, her head tilted backwards as she let the water sprinkle down her face. Slowly she began to blow hot air out between her lips, her bathroom must have been the last place on earth where she could get some peace and quiet for even thirty minutes. This, however, was the wrong assumption. Hearing a crash from somewhere in her main chamber Kumi's entire body froze.  
'Oh no...' she quietly thought to herself, hearing audible smashing coming closer towards her bathroom door. 'Oh, Kami, please, not like this!' she inwardly cried, trying to reach for a towel before the door to her bathroom was ripped off of its hinges and thrown hurtling off into the distance somewhere behind Jūgo. “Jūgo! Jūgo, no!” she told him off as he came towards. “I'm warning you, I'm armed!” she protested, reaching for something as she continued to try cover herself with her blue shower curtain. Jūgo, however, responded by growling at her as she narrowed her gaze and tried to keep him away with what she soon realised was her back-scrubber.  
“I-I warned you, I have a back-scrubber!” she snapped, waving it and splashing warm water at him.

Grabbing the shower curtain the redhead ripped it off of the metal railing above, causing her to scream and cover herself as best she could, her body turning away from him in a vain attempt to keep some dignity.  
“Pervert, pervert!” she shouted, blindly swinging her scrubber on a stick hoping to repel him. Feeling him grab the stick and rip it from her hand Kumi coiled her arm back in to try help cover her crotch which she had previously been trying to hide by just crossing her legs. “Jūgo, for the love of Kami, I'm in the shower!” Kumi told him off again, feeling him yank her against his chest as he did the usual fall onto his rump so he could cross his legs and plonk her down on his lap. Apparently he was not listening to her at all, in fact it seemed he did not even care that she was naked as he was quick to wrap his arms around her and just start squeezing her as per the usual. “I was in the shower.” the young Senju muled sadly, her forehead resting against his shoulder as she found herself trapped in his arms yet again.

Having the water pour over the both of them Kumi eventually began to notice just how much filth was coming off of Jūgo.  
“Kami, Jūgo, when was the last time you bathed?” the young woman questioned, lifting her head even further to watch the murky water roll down his face and hair.  
“Dunno...” he mumbled, only making her frown all the more. Staring at him Kumi slowly reached for the body lotion and a sponge, determined to scrub the grime off of him, and a few minutes later the teen was sitting there in only a towel with his eyes closed trying to cope with her scrubbing his hair thoroughly.  
“You need a lesson in hygiene.” she grumbled, now stood with a towel around her to cover her body.  
“I didn't notice.” he mumbled, having settled down for the most part, his head bobbing slightly as she tried to get the bits of dried blood out of his hair.  
“How long has that been there?” she quietly questioned, using her index nail to try scratch some of it off of his neck. Washing someone was definitely not something she had thought she would ever do, especially not the person who had barged into her shower.

By the end of the morning Kumi had washed him down, cut his hair, and fed him a breath mint, the teen mumbling under his breath as he sat getting his hair combed and blow dried.  
“Mmm, you smell like cinnamon now.” she mumbled, turning off her dryer to run a few strands through her fingers before leaning in to sniff his freshly washed locks. It was just a shame he was probably not going to stay very clean once he got back to his own cell or went on another murderous rampage. Hearing someone at her door the young woman looked up to find Kabuto had come to see her, his expression going from a casual stare at his clipboard to one of confusion when he looked up and saw Jūgo being pampered by Kumi.  
“What are you doing?” he asked, having come here to retrieve Jūgo, who had escaped his cell far more times than Orochimaru was willing to forgive, only to find him being pampered.  
“He broke into my bathroom while I was showering.” Kumi replied, putting away her hair dryer. “I gave him a bath after I realised how filthy he was.” she then added, spraying him with some deodorant before deciding he was finally clean.

Coughing the redhead furrowed his brow and looked at her for a moment, what the hell did she just spray him with?  
“I see.” the grey haired teen murmured, almost ready to let out a weary sigh. Why did this compound have to be so damn difficult to maintain? He was already having enough problems with Orochimaru's new favourite, Sasuke.  
“Are you here to see how I've been progressing?” Kumi questioned, bringing Jūgo a clean shirt and shorts to go get changed into, Kabuto was another surprise visitor she wished would tell her when he planned to come see her.  
“I was told to bring you to the main base and introduce you to Sasuke.” the grey-haired teen informed her.  
“Will we be working together or something? I'm pretty sure he's far superior to me in combat...” the young woman mused, not entirely sure why she needed to meet this guy.  
“It's Orochimaru's intention to get you up to speed so you can aid him on missions. He hopes that introducing you, and allowing you both to get a better understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses, will help you both in your training.” Kabuto answered simply.

Not entirely certain that she would be able to learn that fast Kumi gave it a good amount of consideration before she verbally agreed.  
“Just to make it clear, Senju and Uchiha never got along very well, I don't know how compatible we'll actually be...” she informed him. “But I guess this ancient rift between the families needs to come to an end eventually.” Kumi admitted, deciding to give this 'Sasuke' boy the benefit of the doubt.  
“I want to meet him too.” Jūgo stated firmly, having come out in his new clothes to give Kabuto a stern look.  
“You're to return to your cell. Orochimaru has been gracious enough to turn a blind eye the last few times but this is the fourth time in a week you've broken out of your cell and killed someone.” Kabuto replied plainly, watching his crimson eyes flicker angrily. “Your chance to meet him will come soon, right now you should be more concerned with earning Orochimaru's trust again.” the teen answered sternly, watching Jūgo's expression grow less than confident now.  
“I'll tell you what he's like, okay?” Kumi promised him, gaining his attention, his eyes lighting up ever so slightly.  
“Okay...” he agreed, quietly going back to his cell as requested.


	6. Chapter 6

Once he had been locked up again Kumi was brought out to the main base, her lungs being filled with as much fresh air as possible each time she breathed so that she could remind herself what the outside world was like.  
“Are you okay?” Kabuto asked, having been listening to her panting since they left the northern base.  
“You have no idea how much I've missed clean air.” Kumi explained, walking just behind him.  
“I'm sorry you don't get to leave the compound much, Orochimaru doesn't like his students wandering around on their own.” he explained, leading her down the steps into the tunnels of the base once they arrived.  
Being brought to a training room Kumi followed Kabuto inside before stopping on the sidelines beside him, her face lolling about until she spotted the ebony haired teen fighting with one of his clones. He was certainly a lot faster and stronger than she was, and that definitely made her slightly uncomfortable, especially when there was a chance he might take a disliking to her.  
“Sasuke.” Kabuto beckoned, obtaining the teen's attention.  
“What?” he questioned rudely, causing Kumi's features to flatten.  
'This isn't good...' she quietly thought to herself.

Once he had come over to begrudgingly meet whoever it was Kabuto had brought with him Sasuke stared at her, she looked unusually familiar.  
“This is Kumi Senju, she will be working hard to try catch up to you in fighting prowess so that she can aid you on missions in the near future.” the grey-haired teen introduced her, lifting a hand in her direction. Looking her up and down the Uchiha scoffed slightly.  
“I don't need a partner.” he stated, causing her to pout softly.  
“Er, well... I'll leave you both to get acquainted.” he slowly spoke, beginning to feel Sasuke's stubbornness to accept anyone as his team mate would make anything Orochimaru had planned very difficult.  
Stood there, watching him leave, Kumi lolled her eyes back to Sasuke once they were alone.  
“... So, you're an Uchiha, right?” she decided to ask.  
“Yes.” he stated plainly, already deciding he was not going to enjoy this woman's company.  
“Do you hate Senju?” the white haired teen enquired.  
“What?” he asked, his frown increasing.  
“Uchiha hate Senju... I was wondering if me being one will be a problem for you.” she explained, hoping to get this one major obstacle out of the way first.  
“I don't care what clan you're from, just don't get in my way.” he stonily told her, turning his back to go back to training.

Stood there, watching him leave, Kumi let out a small sigh of relief.  
“Well that's good.” she admitted to herself. “... Hey, were you kidnapped too?” the young woman then called, gaining his attention.  
“No.” he answered stiffly, practising his hand-seals.  
“Oh...” she mumbled, feeling his eyes suddenly burning into her as he gave her a good long stare.  
“You're that girl that went missing during the Chuunins.” he acknowledged, finally realising why he recognised her.  
“Oh, uh... Yeah.” she confirmed, about to say something before he continued.  
“Which means you're nothing more than a civilian.” he murmured. “Orochimaru has some nerve assigning a scrub to me.” Sasuke muttered, to which Kumi's lips began to flatten. Okay, this guy was starting to grate on her, no wonder Kabuto seemed a bit uneasy about leaving them alone together.

Quietly Kumi watched him summon a new clone, her foot slipping out of her sandal to press against the wooden flooring. When he went to lift his leg and kick the young woman bound his foot to the floor, causing him to fumble and fall over.  
“What the hell?” Sasuke questioned, looking down at his bound foot before flicking his head up to look at her.  
“What? Don't look at me, I'm just a scrub.” she stated, the corners of her lips curling up. Narrowing his gaze the Uchiha burned the wood to free his foot and got back up, maybe he really would have to keep an eye on her.  
For the next few weeks the young woman had been subject to numerous beatings at the hands Sasuke, namely because she could not defend herself for shit and Orochimaru was persistent that they sparred.  
“Damn it...” Kumi groaned, laying on her back after being thrown to the floor for the third time in the space of fifteen minutes.  
“Useless.” Sasuke stated, looming over her with a dull look on his face, maybe Naruto really was not the most incompetent person he had ever met. “Why aren't you using any hand seals?” he questioned, having not seen her attempt to use even the most simplest of seals.  
“I don't know any hand seals.” she informed him, pulling herself up into a sitting position. It was a good thing she had accepted Kabuto's offer when he brought her a simple pair of shinobi trousers and a vest to train in, by now Sasuke would have seen her underwear at least eighteen times today alone.

Stood there, staring at her, the Uchiha spoke dryly.  
“What do you mean you don't know any hand seals?” he questioned. “Do you at least know the gestures?” he asked, watching her give him a pretty clueless expression that made him all the more irate. “What the hell is wrong with you? You're training to be a nin and you don't even understand the basics?” Sasuke questioned, his eyebrow beginning to twitch uncharacteristically.  
“I'm trying my best, I've only been a ninja for about a month...” she tutted, pulling out a book that Kabuto had given her. “I've not even gotten to hand seals yet, I'm still trying to figure out how chakra works.” she stated, showing him which page she was on in the manual.  
“Chakra flows through you, that's all you need to know.” he stated, taking her book to flip through the pages, ignoring her protest that he had made her lose her place, and located the part about hand gestures. “Study up on this, I'm sick of delaying my training because you're an idiot.” he informed her stiffly, her expression narrowing slowly.  
“Hey, enough with your attitude, I'm just as sick of baby sitting you as you are of me.” she tutted, getting to her feet. “What are you, like eleven?” she questioned, looking down at his four-foot-nine stature.  
“I'm thirteen.” he answered sternly, looking up at her with a scowl.

At that point Kumi just stood there, staring at him.  
“You... you what?” she asked, examining him yet again.  
“I'm thirteen.” he reiterated, beginning to grow tired of her company for today.  
“I guess that makes it a little better.” she sighed.  
“Makes what better?” he questioned, wondering if she was yet another female that would eventually start cooing over his good looks.  
“Well, I mean... I'm getting beaten up by a teenager rather than a little boy.” Kumi explained simply, rubbing a bruise on her arm. “I think that's a little less insulting to me...” she added, sighing a little. “No, no... I still think getting my ass whooped by a brat like you is terrible.” she then admitted, second guessing her previous opinion as she crossed her arms.  
“... Brat?” Sasuke questioned, his brow darkening.  
“What, no one's ever called you out on your attitude problem?” Kumi questioned, hitching her eyebrow. “Oh, oh I see...” she uttered, uncrossing her arms to wag her index finger at him knowingly.

Narrowing his gaze Sasuke allowed her to tell him, it really did not matter to him either way what she thought since he did not care. Not in the slightest.  
“Everyone is so in love with you in different ways that they've never told you no.” she uttered, shaking her head a little. “Well I wont be kissing your ass, you do something I don't like and I'm going to call you out on it.” Kumi informed him sternly.  
“... Whatever.” Sasuke muttered dismissively. Twitching her eyebrow Kumi inwardly sighed, she really did have no control over any situation she was in. Sitting herself down the young woman examined the hand seals in the book, most of which seemed easy enough, or at least that was until she had to actually remember which gestures to use in which order. Even the slightest incorrect positioning of her fingers would cause the jutsu to fail, what made it harder was the fact that she needed to do the hand seals relatively quickly to make them work as well, which was hard when she tried to do a series of movements only to stab herself in the palm with her fingers.  
“Ouch.” she cursed, pricking herself again as she sat hunched over the book a few days later.

Honestly this was much harder than Sasuke made it look, and to make matters worse she still had not been able to remember all the signals off by heart.  
“Let's see; tiger, boar, ox, dog... tiger, boar, ox, dog...” Kumi repeated, trying not to look at her notes as she attempted, in vain, to remember the sequence to cast the body replacement technique. “Fuck sake.” she swore, thinking she was alone.  
“That's quite the language.” she heard Kabuto comment, having entered to see how they were getting on only to find them both doing separate things.  
“I'm trying to learn hand seals but it's ridiculous.” she explained, picking up her book to look into it again. “And this is one of the easiest jutsu in here!” she snapped, lifting the book above her head as if that would make her understand it any better. “I didn't even know jutsu had ranks!” she protested, grumbling even more as Sasuke came over to see what Kabuto wanted only to stand staring at the back of Kumi's head as she conveyed her frustration openly.  
“Perhaps you should try something simple...” Kabuto suggested, leaning over and pushing up his glasses. “Try the transformation jutsu, it only requires three hand gestures.” the nin suggested, watching her get to her feet.  
“I guess I could try that one again.” she admitted, having failed to get it to work the last few times.

Trying this whilst Kabuto spoke to Sasuke the young woman furrowed her brow, it was incredibly embarrassing to be constantly out-showed by a child.  
“Dog, boar, ram.” she repeated to herself, doing the hand-seals over and over again until she grew annoyed with herself once again. “Nothing's happening.” she murmured, giving the floor a defeated sigh.  
“Keep at it, Kumi.” Kabuto called as he left, waving a hand casually as she watched. By the end of the next week the young woman had eventually learned all the different hand gestures and seal combinations for the E-rank techniques, and for the most part she had at least been able to get herself to vaguely transform into someone else or make a duplicate of herself.  
“Dog, boar, ram!” she called, transforming herself as Sasuke walked in. All he saw, however, was a wooden bird falling mid-air to hit the floor and bounce slightly. Confused by this the Uchiha looked around, his ebony eyes trying to spot Kumi, who he had been certain was in here, as he walked over to the small figurine and slowly picked it up to examine it.  
“Kumi?” he questioned, taking another look around before peering down at the bird in his hand.

Frowning the young Uchiha turned it over to have a better look at it, Kumi was supposed to be training not making sculptures. Feeling the small statuette beginning to warp in his hands Sasuke stared at it, his eyes widening as he found himself crushed under someone's weight and pushed to the floor.  
“Damn it, I can't hold that stupid form for long enough!” he heard Kumi protesting as he lay pinned to the floor with a screwed up face. Feeling something move underneath her as the smoke cleared the young Senju blinked a little and then looked down to see Sasuke underneath her, apparently she had landed on his stomach and unintentionally pinned him to the floor.  
“Get off.” he grunted, opening one of his eyelids halfway to look up at the surprisingly heavy woman.  
“Oh, right, sorry.” she gasped, jumping to her feet to let him get up and brush himself down.  
“I see you figured out how to transform yourself into other things.” he commented, still frowning slightly.  
“Yeah, kind of... I can't hold it for very long though.” she admitted, still quite proud of herself nonetheless. Grumbling to himself Sasuke went to go practise at his end of the dojo, allowing Kumi to get back to work on her hand-seals.

It had not been until late into the night that Kumi finally made it back to her room in the northern compound, her tired eyes barely able to stay open as she walked through her busted down door and traipsed through her dismantled room, her mind not even registering the destruction around her as she opened her bedroom door and dropped her satchel to the floor on her way to the chair that still had her pyjamas laying over the back-rest. Pulling off her clothes the young woman brushed her teeth and hair before wiping the make-up off of her face, her feet then scraping off of the hard surface of the floor as she made her way to her bed.  
“Scoot over.” she mumbled, pushing her knee against Jūgo's side until he moved over and let her lay on the edge of the bed.  
Curling up the young woman sighed, her face pressed against the thick muscles on his upper arm as she got herself comfy and tried to get some sleep. It was not until she was half-way towards falling asleep completely that Kumi even became alert of what was around her, her eyes flicking open as she sat up, her brain registering the wreckage she had past through in the main chamber.  
“Jūgo!?” she snapped, giving him a fright as he snorted himself awake. “What are you doing?” she demanded, his hazy expression dissipating as he rubbed one half of his face and looked around.  
“Wait, where am I?” he asked, looking up at Kumi's infuriated expression.  
“You're in my bed, you destroyed half of my stuff during another one of your rampages.” she huffed, finding herself strangely energised considering how tired she had been only a few minutes ago.

Staring at her the redhead slowly made a rather upset expression, his eyes shifting to look elsewhere.  
“Sorry...” he murmured, staring at his knees for a good minute before the silence was broken by Kumi sighing.  
“It's okay.” she murmured, too tired to proceed to argue with him. “I guess you can stay since you're here already.” she continued, too comfy on her bed to try drag him back to his cell at one in the morning. Turning over Kumi cuddled into his side and placed her head on his chest, her hand tugging the covers up under her armpit. Watching her cuddle into him the redhead lay back down again, his eyes remaining open as he stared at the darkened ceiling.  
Eventually Jūgo fell back asleep, his groggy expression only breaking the calm look on his face when he woke up that morning to the sound of a kettle boiling through the small crack in the ajar door. Before he was allowed breakfast, however, Kumi had forced him to take a shower, his large hand holding up a bottle of shampoo as he stood under the sprinkling water.  
'Put this in my hair...' he acknowledged, popping open the top to squirt a lot of it out onto his hand before be began to wash his hair.

The next thing he played with was a body wash, however he was not sure he liked having to use all these bath products, washing his crotch and under his armpits seemed as far as he really needed to go without smearing flowery products all over his back, chest, legs and arms, but somehow that woman knew instantaneously if he had done as he was told or not.  
“Did you have a good shower?” he heard her ask as he came in to see what he was getting for breakfast.  
“Yes.” he quietly answered, sitting down in one of the small wooden chairs at the kitchen table. It felt weird doing these 'civil' things like sitting down at a table to eat someone's home cooked meals, it was certainly something he had not experienced in a very long time.  
“Sasuke's training with the Sound Four so I don't need to worry about going to the main compound for a few days.” she uttered, giving him a large bowl of rice before putting a far smaller bowl down in front of her own chair, if it were one thing Kumi had seen from the last time she fed him it was that he ate a lot.  
“What's he like?” the redhead asked with a mouth full of rice in his gob, however she was certain there was just as much stuck to his lips too.  
'Egocentric. Cantankerous. Pompous. Fussy. Stubborn.' was Kumi's first and instant list of traits for that young Uchiha. “Err...” Kumi answered, trying to think of a better way to put it. “A teenage boy.” she replied simply, giving him a soft smile.

Eating another spoonful of her rice the young woman hummed.  
“He's always telling me I'm not working hard enough, or I'm too slow.” she tutted, a small frown coming up her face. “Definitely has the personality of a prodigy at any rate.” Kumi sighed. “But, at the end of the day, I've no time for someone like that; he has the Sound Four to help him if he's that unwilling to cooperate.” Kumi admitted, nodding her head in agreement with herself as she got up to go clean her dirty dishes.  
“How would you describe me?” Jūgo asked, having finally finished his own meal. Clattering her dishes together as she washed them Kumi hummed, trying to think of a way to describe him.  
“Uh... Hm.” she began in thought. “Unpredictable.” she finally agreed on, stacking her dishes onto the drying rack. “But you're nice when you're in a good mood.” Kumi added, taking his bowl to go wash it as well. “Maybe a little bit of a dark horse though.” she admitted, going back over to the sink. “I think I just have a natural disposition to being around men like that though.” Kumi sighed, thinking back to Gaara, Jūgo and Sasuke.

Finishing the dishes the young woman examined the redhead for a moment, since he was here she was probably going to put him to work helping her clean up the mess he made in the first place.  
“Put that over there with the other bits of furniture.” she called, watching him pick up the shattered remains of a stool. “What a mess.” the young woman sighed, picking up an empty picture frame to turn it over and look at it. 'Gaara...' she thought to herself, having put a folded up photo inside it that had originally been in her hip satchel.  
“Who's that?” Jūgo questioned, having come over with a snapped broom to ask what he should do with it.  
“Oh... that's Gaara.” she informed him, pointing to the redhead in the photo.  
“And who's that?” he questioned, leaning over her shoulder to look.  
“Temari and Kankuro, his siblings.” Kumi explained, the teen scanning the family picture quietly.  
“Where are you?” he asked, to which the young woman slowly began to frown.  
“Oh, I was never allowed to have my picture taken.” she answered. “I never got why at the time, but Kabuto told me about the nin that want me dead so... I guess it makes sense now.” she admitted, now aware of the real danger she was in. Frowning Jūgo straightened his back, his red eyes scanning her searchingly.  
“Why would someone want to kill you?” he murmured, unable to think of a reason someone might want her dead.  
“It's more what my mum and dad did, they don't seem to care if I had nothing to do with the situation sadly.” the young Senju sighed, putting the wooden frame back down on the table.  
“Oh.” the redhead responded simply, allowing her to take the broom out of his hands to use a simple jutsu on to mesh the halves back together. After about an hour of cleaning Kumi had paused to wipe the sweat from her brow, her head turning to see what Jūgo was doing only to find him sitting hunched over beside a wall muttering to himself.  
“I'll protect you...” he murmured quietly into his knees, his gaze narrowing. “I wont let anyone hurt you...” she heard him continue, to which a small smile came up her lips.  
“I'm sure you wont.” she acknowledged, having come over to see what he was doing. Looking around the young woman pondered what to do with herself now, however when she heard someone at her door the Senju turned to look at Kabuto.  
“He escaped again...” he commented, sick of all these ridiculous interruptions.  
“I noticed.” she answered, moving out of the way to reveal he had been sitting behind where she was standing.  
“This can't keep going.” the grey haired teen stated, taking off his glasses to clean them.  
“Yeah...” Kumi agreed, looking down at him as he sulked in the corner. “Maybe he should just move in with me.” she then suggested.  
“What?” Kabuto questioned, stilling when he finished clarifying with himself exactly what she had proposed.  
“Well, he seems happier when he's here, and you're sick of him breaking out of his own cell... Maybe we should try making him stay here?” she questioned, to which Jūgo looked up at her with a mixture of shock and surprise.  
“You can't be serious?” Kabuto asked, however she did not make any notion that she was not.

Giving it a bit of thought the teen grumbled.  
“I'll have to clear it with Orochimaru, but I suppose if it stops him breaking out and killing more people.” he murmured in thought, the cell the redhead was in right now was absolutely useless anyway.  
“You're going to let me live here?” Jūgo questioned, getting to his feet.  
“You don't have to, obviously.” Kumi reassured him, waving her hands a little in front of her chest. Examining her in thought the teen slowly opened his mouth to speak.  
“I'd like that...” he murmured, his crimson eyes rolling off to the side as Kumi began to smile.  
“Don't make any arrangements until I've cleared it with Orochimaru.” Kabuto stated firmly, not entirely sure the sage would agree to something like that considering how volatile Jūgo was. It had not been until a week later that Kumi received a verbal agreement that they would test how well the subject did in her company, however they were firm in telling her that any damage he caused to her, or her room, was not their problem during that time, which she was fully willing to accept.

While everything was being set up on Jūgo's end Kumi had been preparing a room for him, however the only thing she placed in it for now was a large bed. Hearing him enter the young woman turned to look at him.  
“There you are.” she greeted him. “Come over here.” she requested, waiting for him to come stand beside her. “This'll be your bedroom.” she informed him, his red eyes examining the simple square room with a bed in the corner.  
“It's nice.” he acknowledged, wandering inside to have a look about.  
“I'll let you settle in then, I have to go to the main base to see Sasuke now. I wont be home until tonight.” she informed him, locating her sandals. “I made you a re-heatable dinner, it's in the fridge.” Kumi added as an after thought.  
“Oh, okay...” he uttered, somewhat disappointed that she was going to leave him on his own for the afternoon.  
“Aw, I'll only be a few hours.” she reassured him, checking she had everything she would need in her hip satchel. “Besides, you'll probably want some peace and quiet to settle in and get used to your new room. I'm sure it'll be weird living here for the first few days when your cell was really... spacious.” the young Senju uttered, giving him a soft smile. “Which reminds me... I never told you my name, you should probably know if it you're going to be living with me.” Kumi acknowledged awkwardly. “It's Kumi.” she informed him.  
“Kumi...” Jūgo reiterated, watching her leave and shut the large metal door behind herself, part of the deal was that the metal door had to be reinstalled if he was going to live with her.

For the next few weeks their living arrangements had gone pretty well, Jūgo would sometimes snap at her but other than that he was pretty quiet, the only real conflict began when the redhead had started trying to help around the apartment.  
“That's the third one this week.” Kumi groaned, sweeping up a plate the clumsy teen had knocked off of the kitchen counter whilst trying to wash them.  
“I was just trying to help.” Jūgo muttered under his breath, his sombre eyes directed towards his feet as he stood near by.  
“I know, Jūgo, but you need to be careful.” she huffed, tilting her sweeping pan over the top of a small bucket to drop the shattered pieces into it.  
“I was.” he muttered under his breath, his sulking expression turning to anger.  
“And I told you to wear your sandals when you're in the kitchen, what if you step on broken glass?” the young woman questioned, having been too busy cleaning up his mess to notice that she was starting to set him off.

Hearing the heavy crunch of wood Kumi lifted her head to look at Jūgo only to see a hole in her wall where he had been standing, the teen himself was already at the kitchen door and tearing it off of its hinges to go into the main chamber and destroy everything on his way to his room. Standing up straight Kumi groaned as she went over to the wall to fix the damage.  
'At least it's the wall and not me or a guard.' she quietly thought to herself, still incredibly frustrated with him nonetheless. After she had fixed most of the mess Kumi had left to go back out to the main base to train with Sasuke, who she felt she was finally starting to catch up to, if only slightly. It was not until that late evening that Kumi returned to find her apartment wrecked again, her eyebrow twitching as she scanned the carnage.  
“Again...” she murmured, heading over to his bedroom door to gently open it and look inside.

Allowing the yellow stream of light to trail in across the floor Kumi watched as it cast upon an object in the centre of the room and began to meld across its form.  
“Jūgo?” the young Senju called gently, watching him move slightly.  
“Hm?” the redhead hummed, tilting his head to the side to look at her.  
“Why are you on the floor?” the young woman asked, coming over to where he was just laying on his back, sprawled out stiffly. “Are you okay?” Kumi questioned, watching him open his eyes to peer up at her.  
“Yes.” he replied plainly, a soft sigh parting her lips as she slipped herself under his armpit to pull him to his feet.  
“You shouldn't be sleeping on the floor, you'll do your back in.” she quietly told him off, carrying him over to his bed. “That's why I made you this bed.” she added, putting him down on the edge of it.

Feeling him pull her in against him Kumi made a small noise of discomfort before slipping out from between his arm and his ribs to sit on his lap instead, he never let her sit beside him so she had given up by this point. Placing her forehead onto his shoulder the young woman obtained flickering memories of the time he broke into her shower, her eyes casting down to where her legs spread to let her knees rest on the bed at either side of his outer thighs. Breathing in his scent Kumi slowly ran one of her hands up the back of his neck so that she could weave her fingers through his tangled red hair, a small hum parting her lips as she felt his big, strong hands stroke roughly down her back. Shuffling on her knees to pull herself closer to him Kumi sat down again, a small blush creeping up her cheeks when he unintentionally pushed on the small of her back and pressed her down against his crotch.  
“Mm, feels good.” Kumi murmured into the crook of his neck, causing him to repeat the action since he seemed to enjoy it as well.  
“I feel hot.” Jūgo informed her, not entirely sure why the room was suddenly a lot warmer than before.

Sitting there Kumi chewed on the edge of her bottom-lip in thought, another tingling sensation crawling up her crotch when he ground against her again.  
“Do you?” she murmured, carefully slipping her hand underneath his shirt to run her fingers up his stomach. Shuddering Jūgo concentrated on her hand, mildly confused as to what she was doing. “Maybe you should take your shirt off?” the young woman suggested, leaning back onto his thighs, and inevitably his crotch, so he could pull it over his head and discard it.  
“Better.” the redhead agreed, peering at Kumi as she sat there just staring at his torso. “Are you hot too?” he asked, seeing her cheeks were flush.  
“Yeah...” she replied, running her hands up and down his torso, concentrating deeply on how her fingers ran across the grooves of his abdomen.  
Watching her do this several times Jūgo slowly raised his hands up and began to tug her kimono apart to mimic her actions, his large palms running down over her bra and stomach before going back up, consequently pinching her nipples as he did so.  
“Ahh...” Kumi gasped, causing him to stiffen.  
“Did I hurt you?” the redhead asked, about to reel away his hands when Kumi gripped him by the wrists and pulled them back against her breasts.  
“No...” she murmured. “Keep playing with them.” she requested, her hands gently running up his arms as she leaned forward and pushed against his palms.

Continuing to play with them Jūgo then complied with her request to push his fingers up underneath the wire at the bottom of her bra and grip her chest directly. As he did this Kumi had slowly reached her hands down towards his shorts, her hand pulling back the elastic until his erection was released. Staring at it with a lusty expression Kumi began to wrap her hand around the base and start to stroke up and down the smooth skin there.  
“What are you doing?” the redhead asked softly, gasping when the sensation ran through his testicles and up his spine.  
“Does it feel nice?” she asked, watching him nod gently, enticing her to continue. Watching his expression closely Kumi could not help but find the fact that he was not hiding his enjoyment rather sweet, a look of desire just about flickering in his eyes at this point as she pushed herself against him and began to kiss him.  
“Hmph?” Jūgo questioned, his eyes opening wider in vague confusion when he felt her lips against his. 

At first he had thought she was attacking him, his mouth opening to question her verbally before he felt her tongue slip into his mouth and slap against his, a move that went straight to his crotch, forcing him to ejaculate earlier than he would have.  
“Ahh.” he gasped, trembling a little as he released all over his stomach and onto her hand. Being pushed onto his back Kumi began to hover over him on her knees, her hand taking his wrist to draw it up towards her exposed underwear whilst her other hand pushed her pants to the side so she could introduce his fingers to her entrance. Confused Jūgo felt the slimy, hot texture of something between Kumi's legs, a visible expression of curiousity coming over him when one of his fingers went into her and began to be squeezed by scolding, tight muscles.  
“F-Finger me...” she requested heatedly, rolling her shoulder to get his fingers to slide in and out of her. Getting the idea of what he needed to do Jūgo began to thrust his fingers in and out of her, an audible moan parting her lips as he did so. As he did this for a few minutes the redhead had been watching her breasts bounce in her bra, his eyes lowering towards where his hand was masturbating her and then down further towards his new erection that Kumi had been stroking roughly. Slowly the redhead began to put two and two together, his eyes rolling from his shaft up to where her hole was and then back down.

Overcome with an overpowering primitive urge to bury himself into her Jūgo began pushing her hips down towards his shaft, a look of confusion coming up Kumi's face until she felt the top of his shaft slide directly between her lips, a deep blush creeping up her cheeks.  
“Jūgo, wait-” she tried to tell him, however it was too late and soon enough his tip had found her oozing, prepared entrance. Thrusting himself into her Jūgo grunted as her walls clamped around him, it felt far hotter in there than when he had been using his fingers.  
“Ah!” Kumi protested, feeling him break through her barrier and tear it in the process. Gripping her hips the redhead began shoving her up along his erection before dragging her back down roughly, a soft groan parting his lips as he did this in rapid succession. “Jūgo, no, it-” the young woman tried to complain, feeling her stomach beginning to tighten the longer he continued to mercilessly fuck her. “Jūgo-” the Senju moaned, bouncing up and down on his cock.  
Listening to her moan over and over again Jūgo felt that same overpowering sensation in his crotch, his grip on her hips tightening until it was painful for Kumi as he held her down against him and released into her as she ejaculated with him all over his shaft, their cum intermingling and oozing out of her entrance and over his balls.  
“Ah, Kami...” Kumi murmured, her mouth hung open as her tunnel continued to spasm.

In the morning the young woman was hunched over on a chair, her hand pressed against the small of her back as she groaned.  
“I'm sorry.” Jūgo reiterated for the fifteenth time that morning, feeling completely responsible for putting her back out.  
“It's okay.” Kumi reiterated for the fifteenth time that morning, feeling completely responsible for letting Jūgo put her back out.  
“Been hard at work training I see.” Kabuto acknowledged, finding Kumi complaining about her back quietly to herself in the dojo at the main compound later that day.  
“Yep, and I learned some very important lessons.” the young woman replied weakly, making sure her icepack was not going to fall off of her back as she continued to train.  
“And what's that?” the teen asked curiously.  
“Choose your position carefully if you've never performed the move before.” she grumbled, certain she needed to start doing shinshin-toitsu-do again to loosen her muscles.


	7. Chapter 7

Having arrived home that evening the young woman had been slowly traipsing around the main chamber, glad to see nothing had been broken this time. Jūgo had been in his room at the time, giving her some alone time to take a hot bath and soak herself in the tub for an hour or two. Lazing in the water with suds around her Kumi lay with her hair tied up above her head, her arm held above her as she ran scented body moisturiser up and down her skin. Drawing her arm in towards her nose Kumi then began to hum as she inhaled the lavender scent, all her aches and pains subsiding to give her peace of mind, if for a little while. Coming out of the bathroom the young woman began to wander past a table, her eyes catching sight of a photo residing there before she stopped in her tracks to stare at the eyes staring back.  
“Gaara...” she whispered, picking up the picture frame to look at it. 'What did I do?' she guiltily asked herself, gently putting the frame back down on the wooden surface.

Going into her bedroom Kumi dried her hair and slipped into bed, her back resting against the mattress as she stared up at the darkened ceiling in silence. By two in the morning Kumi knew that the sandman would be no friend of hers tonight, her body numb as she let her mind wander. Hearing her door open the young Senju lay still, the presence of someone looking at her boring into the side of her head.  
“Kumi?” she heard his small voice ask, her head tilting to the side as she lay in the exact same position as she had left herself in hours ago.  
“Yeah?” she asked quietly.  
“I couldn't sleep.” Jūgo murmured softly.  
“Neither could I.” Kumi replied, turning her head back so that she could look to the ceiling again.  
From there the door creaked open further and then shut over with a click, the sound of bare feet padding across the floor until it reached her bed.  
“Can I sleep in here with you?” he questioned, listening to her scoot across the bed to let him climb on. Laying himself out across his back Jūgo became still and silent, allowing the pair to rest side by side, their eyes directed towards what was above them in the thick shadows.  
“Why can't you sleep?” Jūgo enquired curiously, breaking the silence which then ensued as Kumi failed to respond.

Opening her mouth to speak the young woman thought about her response carefully before making any noise.  
“Just thinking.” she finally replied. “You?” Kumi then asked.  
“Was thinking about Kimimaro again.” he answered, tilting his head slightly so that he could smell her hair when he breathed in. Lifting her hand the young Senju stroked his arm as it lay down by his side, her fingers ghosting over his skin and tickling him slightly.  
“Do you want me to make you something to eat?” she asked, knowing that sometimes a full belly made her sleep a lot better.  
“Can you sing for me again? It helped last time...” Jūgo requested, turning over onto his side to rest his arm across her ribs.  
“Mm, okay.” she agreed, turning onto her side so that she was facing away from him before scooting closer to rest against his torso.  
Getting comfortable Kumi hummed gently as she tried to remember what her mother would sing to her when she was little.  
“ _If you can't sleep I'll be there in your dreams, I'll be there in your dreams if you can't sleep at all. And in your dreams I'll touch your cheek and lay my head on your shoulder_.” the young Senju sang softly, feeling him pull her closer so they were spooning. “ _Goodbye shadows... Goodbye shadows_.” she continued, yawning a little now. “ _If you're far away, if you can't see my face, if the world is cold but the sun shines the same; shut your eyes, there are bluer skies, for you're embraced in my heart_.” Kumi whispered, pulling his hand towards her face as she gently massaged the top of it. “ _Goodbye shadows... Goodbye shadows_.” she concluded, growing quiet as she began to doze off, followed soon after by Jūgo.

Some months later Kumi had been busy at work trying to perfect her jutsus while Sasuke muttered to himself about something from a corner of the room, her lips slowly pursing together the longer he continued to distract her.  
“Why are you sulking today?” she finally asked him, stopping what she had been doing to come confront the moody teenager.  
“I'm not sulking.” he plainly answered, sitting with his eyes closed and his legs crossed on the floor.  
“Then what are you muttering about?” Kumi questioned, frowning a little. “Don't tell me the curse is starting to make you talk to yourself too.” she sighed, hoping she did not start doing it as well.  
“I'm irritated.” the Uchiha finally informed her, whilst the young Senju sat herself down in front of him. “Orochimaru hasn't gotten back to me on when he'll have someone ready to use my Sharingan on. I need to strengthen it if I want to have any chance against my brother.” he explained stiffly.  
“Oh...” she uttered in thought. “That'll be hard, I don't think anyone wants to go to hell.” she admitted, not entirely sure even the criminally insane would agree to it.  
“What?” Sasuke questioned, his face furrowing as he continued to keep his eyes closed.  
“The Sharingan can send you to hell.” the young woman reiterated, only making him more annoyed.

Slowly opening his eyes Sasuke stared at her in his usual callous manner, his ebony eyes scanning her for a good minute.  
“They're illusions, there's no real hell.” he informed her, his arms now crossed.  
“So, if you used it on me, I'd not go to hell?” Kumi questioned, not entirely sure she believed him.  
“No. You'd just be subject to whatever nightmare I chose for you.” he stated, to which she seemed to give this a lot of thought.  
“Does it have to be a nightmare?” the young Senju enquired curiously.  
“No, not really. I guess it could be anything.” Sasuke admitted, not entirely sure why she was suddenly so interested in him.  
“Well... How about you practise on me?” she suggested, watching his plain expression turn to mild confusion.  
“What?” he asked, not sure he heard her right.  
“You can practise on me as long as you don't give me a nightmare or anything horrible like that.” she explained, pointing to herself. “Surely, no matter what illusion you give me, it'll still help power up your Sharingan?” she added, not entirely sure how exactly the jutsu worked.

Narrowing his gaze Sasuke thought about this for a good few minutes, his ebony eyes flickering as he considered the consequences and the ramifications of using his techniques on her. In the end he decided to give it a go on her, if it pushed him closer to his target goal then he did not care whether he harmed her or not.  
“Fine.” he verbally agreed, activating his Sharingan as she watched.  
“Remember, no nightmares!” she reminded him with a frown, her eyebrows hitching when he cast it on her and changed the entire room they were in. Blinking the young woman got to her feet and began to look around the expansive, empty plain. “Well this isn't so bad.” she commented, looking down to see Sasuke was her reflection. “How'd you get down there?” she questioned, suddenly feeling herself fall forward as the world began to spin. Gasping Kumi resurfaced from the black water she had fallen into, a look of confusion and panic coming over her. “We agreed to no nightmares!” Kumi protested, trying to doggy-paddle her way to shore only to find it remained at a constant distance no matter how long she swam for.

Unable to stop Kumi groaned, took a deep breath and dunked herself under the water, hoping that maybe she could find the surface she had been on top of previously. When she found nothing underneath her but water, however, she tried to resurface only to find a barrier was in her way. Confused Kumi shoved and banged against it, her head tilting to look up at the thick glass and see Sasuke stood directly above her watching her. Scowling at him Kumi stuck her middle finger up at him as she began to sink deeper into the water, the surface she had been trying to get to vanishing into the distance. Feeling lost now the young woman peered around, her cheeks puffed up as she tried to figure out where the hell she was.  
'Why does it feel like I need to breathe?' she questioned, feeling her lungs beginning to burn. 'Oh Kami, this illusion is too real!' she panicked, trying to keep what little air was left going until she could find some kind of air pocket. 'That prick, I'm going to ring out his neck.' the white haired girl hissed to herself, spotting a cave to swim towards and then up.

Swimming upwards along the tunnel Kumi finally broke the surface, gulping in air as she did so.  
“How long does this work for?” she questioned, shaking the inky black water from her hands.  
“Forty-eight hours in here, three seconds outside.” Sasuke answered, appearing beside her.  
“Huh... You could really do a lot of training in here and it'd only have been 3 seconds?” she questioned, giving it a bit of thought. “All those cooking recipes and songs I could learn...” she murmured in thought.  
“Do you ever think about jutsu?” the teen asked, narrowing his gaze.  
“Of course I do, I practise almost everyday now.” she tutted, examining his eerie crimson eyes. “I wonder if you could use a Sharingan within a Sharingan.” she commented curiously.  
“One would cancel the other out.” the raven haired teen informed her, to which she gave a small nod.  
“So...” she uttered, crossing her arms slowly. “We've basically got forty-seven-and-a-half hours to go in here... Wanna rematch on that last fight?” Kumi offered, slipping into a defensive stance.  
“Fine.” Sasuke agreed, ready to whip her ass yet again.  
After a few hours of being in the illusion the pair had pretty much torn each other to shreds, the both of them standing on ledges apart from each other breathing heavily as they glared at each other.  
“I might actually win this one!” Kumi shouted over to him as she stood on top of a wooden tiger. “I've been really working on getting my statues to move faster.” she added, patting the smooth surface of the animal's head.  
“I noticed.” he commented, having been taken off guard by it the first time, ending in his shirt being sliced in three places. “Your hand-seals are also faster.” he added, to which he heard an audible gasp.  
“Was that a... complement?!” she gawked, lunging at him to try attack him again.  
“Just an observation.” Sasuke answered with a coy smirk, using a simple katon to set her tiger on fire as she leaped off of it to avoid being hit too.

Landing Kumi ran at him, her fist swinging as she tried to sock him only to have her arm grabbed and her whole weight tossed over Sasuke's shoulder.  
“Tsk.” she tutted, having hit the floor and caught herself after the first roll. “Let's see you survive this!” she went to tell him, charging at him seconds later. In real life the three seconds had finally passed, bringing Kumi out from the illusion of the genjutsu with a mildly confused 'huh?' followed by a panicked 'ah!' when she saw blood had been coming out of one of Sasuke's eye. Sitting there gripping his lower jaw the young woman used a wet piece of fabric to wipe his face, a deep frown stuck to her face as she do so.  
“You should have told me that would happen.” she told him off, his eye squeezing itself shut when she went to dab his tear-duct, nose and cheek with the cloth again.  
“I didn't expect it to.” Sasuke corrected her plainly, mildly peeved with her touching him but not enough that he voiced this.  
“Is the bleeding normal?” Kumi asked, finally letting go of his face.  
“Yes.” he murmured, rubbing his damp face and eye with the back of his hand.  
“Don't rub at it, you'll make it bleed again.” the young Senju warned him, however he had no intention of listening to her until his eye did exactly what she said it would, forcing him to be subjected to another five minutes of her washing his face.

Going back to training in their respective corners Kumi began to hum to herself as she sharpened one of her kunai, the noise beginning to distract Sasuke who was not that far behind her.  
“Do you have to make that noise?” the teen questioned, frowning over at her.  
“I like humming when I'm in a good mood.” the young Senju defended herself.  
“Do you have to be in a good mood?” the Uchiha shot back, standing up straight as she got to her feet.  
“Why wouldn't I be? I finally did a pretty good job fighting you.” Kumi tutted, getting to her feet to come over to him.  
“I can't wait for the day when you realise simply doing a 'pretty good job' isn't going to cut it on a mission. They aren't flowers and rainbows.” Sasuke muttered dryly, to which she began to pout at him.  
“Oi, I know it's not all flowers and rainbows; but I'd rather spend my time thinking that it mostly is instead of being like you. You don't laugh, you don't smile; you're so angsty all the time! What happened to y-?” the young Senju began to rant at him, to which he stilled and turned his head to glare at the door.  
“Sh.” he commanded, his gaze narrowing  
“What, is the base under attack?” Kumi questioned, holding her kunai up in front of her as she stared at the door with him.  
“...Maybe.” he murmured, heading towards the door as she stood stationary. After half a minute of this the young woman's face began to flatten, her kunai lowering with it.  
“There's no enemy, is there?” the young Senju questioned, staring at the back of his head. “You just wanted me to stop talking!” she then tutted, coming over to him as he remained by the door.  
“... Maybe.” Sasuke answered after a long pause, causing the young woman to grumble and then sigh. Going back to what she was doing Sasuke also went back to his own training, hoping that now she would not get on his nerves, but that, however, was a false hope.

Humming to herself Kumi began to sing, disrupting him whilst he was trying to concentrate.  
“ _I don't care if Monday's blue, Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too. Thursday I don't care about you, it's Friday, I'm in love_.” Kumi had began singing, to which Sasuke tutted under his breath.  
“Really? Seriously? I'm trying to take my training seriously and you're singing?” the Uchiha protested, turning to look at her.  
“Singing helps me relax, maybe you should try it some time.” Kumi shot back, continuing to look down at her kunai.  
“I don't sing, and I don't relax. This is the way I am, and I like it.” the ebony haired teen muttered. “I also like a little silence.” he added firmly, hoping now she would shut up.  
Narrowing her gaze Kumi got to her feet and came to stand behind him whilst he was distracted again.  
“ _Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again_...” the young Senju began, causing the teen to slowly open his eyes. Turning his head Sasuke looked at her, the corner of his eyelid twitching slightly. “ _Because a vision, softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping; and the vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound of silence_.” she continued to mock him, to which he began to scowl. Moments later Kumi could be seen leaping out of the dojo and then up the corridor to avoid a katon being fired at her by the pissed off Uchiha.

As the months turned into a year, and that year turned into another year, Kumi was still living with Jūgo, who by now had opened up to her a bit more than before but still seemed to keep his distance. The day was its normal quiet atmosphere as the young woman stood in the bathroom measuring the now nineteen-year-old redhead.  
“Six-foot.... six!” she gasped, having been standing on a box to reach the top of his head.  
“Is that a good thing?” Jūgo stiffly asked her, trying to keep his straight posture lest she complained at him for sinking into his hips again.  
“You're so tall now.” she replied, getting down from her box to roll up the measuring tape. “No wonder I had to heighten the doors.” she added, stood beside him trying to come to terms with how much smaller she was in comparison. As of right now, at five-foot-nine, her eyes only came up to his collarbone.  
“Sorry.” he apologised quietly, drawing a pout up her face.  
“No, it's a good thing. The ladies usually love a tall man.” she reassured him, giving him a smile.  
“Do you like tall men?” the redhead questioned, watching her put her measuring tape and box away under the sink.

Glancing up at him Kumi seemed to give it a bit of thought before she replied.  
“As long as they have big, strong arms I couldn't care less how many door frames they bump their head off of.” she answered, blushing a little as she imagined being trapped in a nice squeeze. Quietly Jūgo glanced down at his arms for a moment before lifting them and pulling Kumi into him whilst the young Senju blinked a little before weaving her arms around his chest.  
“Like this?” the redhead questioned, to which she hummed into his chest.  
“I wonder if all that food I gave you had something to do with this.” the young Senju pondered, hearing his stomach growl. “Mmm, hungry again?” she questioned, peering up at him as he simply blushed in return and avoided eye contact. “I guess it's time for lunch then.” she chuckled, slipping out of his grip to go to the kitchen.  
Looming over her wok the young Senju watched Jūgo chop up the vegetables she would need, over the last two years she had watched him put a lot of work into helping around the apartment, he had even gone to great lengths to learn where he would or would not fit to avoid knocking things off of tables and counters.  
“Thanks.” she uttered, taking his crudely chopped peppers, onions and carrots to put into her wok. Picking one of the misshapen pepper slices Kumi examined it with a hint of amusement while Jūgo just frowned a little at it.  
“I'm still really bad at that...” he admitted, to which she just smiled and dropped it back in with the rest.  
“Somehow they taste nicer like this.” she answered, starting to fry them.

Watching her cook Jūgo lifted one of his hands to get the salt shaker that she would need, however when he went to sprinkle some onto the fish the top came off and all the salt fell out onto it in a large pile. Stood there, staring at it, the edge of Kumi's lip twitched slightly, her nostrils flaring as Jūgo turned to look at her with the same expression of shock on his face as he had been given the fish, an expression which was enough to make her grab her face and look at him through her fingers.  
“I-I uh...” he stammered, breaking out of his stupor as he looked at her shoulders bouncing and her eyebrows twitching.  
“Your face...” she strained, batting his hand, which was still hovering the tilted salt shaker over the fish, away from it.  
“I'm sorry.” he finally apologised as he watched her wash the fish under the sink to try get the salt off.  
“It's okay.” she continued to grin, placing it onto a new chopping board so that she could wash the one he had coated in salt. “Nothing a bit of water can't fix.” she reassured him, placing the chopping board back where it had been before the accident. “Here, try again.” she requested, tightening the head back onto the salt shaker.  
“I uh...” he nervously spoke, giving the shaker a cowardly look.

Pouting Kumi pushed it into his hand and pulled him over to the chopping board.  
“It's okay, nothing's going to happen.” she reassured him, to which he gave her a hesitant look before he began to sprinkle the salt carefully. “See?” she questioned, skewering the fish to prepare it to be grilled. Still looking a little uncomfortable about screwing up the first time Jūgo watched her cook as if it were one of her natures, his eyes lolling from left to right as she seemed to practically dance around the kitchen counter.  
“I wish I was that elegant.” he commented to himself. “So elegant.” he muttered again, gaining her attention.  
'I'm just cooking?' Kumi questioned gently to herself, not really sure what was so special about what she was doing.  
Giving him his lunch the young woman did the usual routine of cleaning up after herself and, on the odd occasion, Jūgo, as a small hum parted her lips as she went. It had been quite pleasant having him as her room mate over the past couple of years, even if he did have a tendency to snap and break her things at least once a day.  
“Are you leaving today?” Jūgo asked, sitting on his favoured chair as he took chunks out of his favourite meal, grilled fish.  
“No, Sasuke said he had things he needed to do so told me to stay out of the way.” Kumi admitted, not too sure what he was up to.

Hearing shouting outside the young woman stilled and went over to the kitchen door, a look of confusion plastered up her face as she stared at the metal door sealing them both in.  
“What's going on?” she questioned, leaving the kitchen to go towards the door only to still when Jūgo grabbed her shoulder a little tighter than he necessarily meant to, his uncomfortable muttering beginning.  
“A woman...” he murmured, staring at the door. “If a woman enters, I'll kill her...” he stated grimly, to which Kumi looked up at him, utterly bewildered.  
“Jūgo?” she questioned, taking a step back as his curse marks began to crawl up is face with a fiery glow.  
“There...” he answered, hearing the seals on the door beginning to unlock of their own accord.  
'A guard?' the young Senju questioned.  
Staring at the door the young woman's brow began to lower, it could not have been a guard, they were not ballsy enough to show up here uninvited.  
'Now then, which will it be?' Jūgo silently questioned, hearing the last lock click open.  
“No...” the redhead commented, his arm expanding as his transformation took hold of it. Watching the door creak open Kumi and Jūgo stared, waiting for the intruder to show themselves.  
“It's gotta be a guy. If it's a guy I'll kill him.” the redhead stated, to which the young woman furrowed her features, this was not a good sign. Eventually the door creaked open far enough to allow the intruder to peer inside, his first reaction being that of surprise to find there was actually a fully furnished room sealed behind the cell door.  
“Bingo!” Jūgo shouted, quickly ripping the intruder's concentration away from the room's layout to the prisoner. “I'm gonna kill him!” the redhead continued ecstatically, causing Kumi to flinch. The next thing she knew she was watching him hurtling towards the open door, a savage grin fixed to his face as he ran at who Kumi now recognised as Sasuke.

Slamming Sasuke at a wall a cloud of dust came billowing up, forcing the Uchiha's companion to step back to avoid being hit by the on-coming rubble. Once the dirt had cleared the two women were now able to see Jūgo had slammed Sasuke through the wall and was now crushing him against the shattered rock, a look of panic coming up Kumi's features as she ran towards the doorway. Seeing that his enemy was still alive after taking a direct hit Jūgo made an expression of shock when he realised that he had created a massive hand to catch his fist, his shock evaporating thereafter to be replaced by sadistic laughter when said hand began trying to shove him backwards.  
“Not another copy of me!” he realised, beginning to shove his whole weight onto the enemy now to continue to press him against the wall. “But you're quite a guy to be able to do a partial transformation!” he stated, jumping backwards to distance himself from the enemy. “You're good at controlling your curse mark! I've not seen a copycat this good since Kimimaro.” he acknowledged, watching as Sasuke climbed out from the crater in the wall unscathed.  
“I've no intention of fighting you.” Sasuke stated firmly, Jūgo's grin still stuck in place.

Confused Kumi peered through the doorway to Sasuke, questioning why he was here as she tried not to bring Jūgo's anger down on her.  
“I'm only here to talk to you, Jūgo.” the Uchiha attempted to reassure him, giving Kumi no mind at this point in time. Slowly the redhead's grin had dissipated, he knew his name?  
“Talk?” he asked, having not really expected this to be the reason for him coming here.  
“I've come to take you out of here.” the Uchiha continued, his large malformed wing slowly dissipating back into his body.  
“Get me out of here?” he questioned, not entirely convinced by this. Chuckling at this Jūgo's grin returned, who did this idiot think he was? Such a question causing him to start to to laugh deeply, a laugh that made Kumi uncomfortable, she had never heard him laugh before. “Are you out of your mind?!” Jūgo questioned, watching Sasuke further return to his natural state. “He's gone! Without him with me I can never leave this place!” he snapped at the shorter teen who had now fully returned to normal. “I can't leave here any more!” he reiterated angrily, flinging his fist forward to try punch Sasuke who leapt out of the way with ease.

Stood there, watching them, Kumi could only hope this did not end in a full blown fight, her arms cuddling a statue she was prepared to use on Jūgo if things got entirely out of control.  
“I'll say it again, I don't want to fight you. I came to get you out of here and that's all.” Sasuke reiterated, his calm expression never changing. “I want you to come with me.” he added, trying to get him to see eye to eye.  
“Don't you see I can't leave here? Never again!” he shouted, finally charging towards the Uchiha who leapt out of the way. Landing back out into the corridor Sasuke stood still again, watching as Jūgo roared at him as he ran directly at him.  
“Sasuke!” a crimson haired girl shouted just as Kumi shouted 'Jūgo!', the pair glancing at each other for a moment. 'Who the hell is she?' they both then inwardly questioned, having never seen one another before.  
Twisting on his heel Sasuke avoided Jūgo's fist, which collided with the wall and shattered it, revealing the bottom half of the kitchen.  
'For Kami's sake!' Kumi groaned, hearing multiple good plates shatter when chunks of the wall hurtled into the centre of the kitchen. Turning around Jūgo came at Sasuke yet again, who had been standing behind him with no interest in distancing himself, the teen leaping out of the way with ease as he was attacked again to drop back down behind Jūgo.  
“Take him down, kill him, Sasuke!” the redhead from before began to cheer with an exciting look on her face.  
“Oh my Kami, shut up!” Kumi protested. “I don't want either of them dead!” she snapped, ready to attack this noisy woman before stilling when she heard the ceiling above her begin to shatter.

Gasping the young Senju grabbed either side of her head as she turned to look back into her apartment, her eyes widening as the collapsing ceiling came down on her statues, destroying everything in its wake.  
“My stuff!” she gasped, ready to go inside and try to rescue what she could before stopping when a chunk of the ceiling narrowly avoided the tip of her nose. Surprised Kumi ground to a halt, as did the other girl, the pair of them turning back to the on-going fight happening further down the corridor.  
“I wont let you escape!” Kumi could hear Jūgo shouting as he vanished into the smoke.  
“Geeze! What is this place?!” a new voice stated, coming through the thick cloud of smoke that was choking the two girls by this point. “You! You tricked me back there.” he added, clearly not happy with the redhead.  
“Oh give me a break, Suigetsu, you got lost all on your own.” she muttered in response.

Quietly Kumi looked between them now, who where these two? She had never seen them before, so they must have been from other parts of the compound.  
“I got lost because I followed your directions.” 'Suigetsu' responded dryly, causing the redhead to start to frown while shouting at him.  
“How would I benefit from tricking you?” the redhead began to protest, gaining a snide smirk from the white haired nin.  
“You can be alone with Sasuke then.” he informed her, causing the redhead to grow angry and start shouting at him. As this was going on Kumi began to look down the corridor, a frown furrowing her features.  
'What am I doing listening to this?' she questioned, running off through the rubble to try catch up to Sasuke and Jūgo. “Jūgo, wait!” she shouted, trying to avoid tripping over in her sandals. Of all the days to choose not to wear her shinobi attire this was not one of them.  
“Who was that...?” the white haired teen questioned, turning to watch the girl vanish off into the smoke.  
“I don't know...” Karin answered, having had no knowledge that Jūgo even had a cell-mate.  
“Ugh, whatever I guess.” he uttered, turning to look at Karin from the corner of his eye. “What happened while I was out wandering around?” he questioned, seeing that the prison corridor was now an absolute state.  
“Jūgo just went wild and attacked.” the redhead answered, having not really expected anything better from coming here to see him.

Giving it a bit of thought Suigetsu hummed a little.  
“I see. So you two went looking for Jūgo after all.” he uttered, having not really anticipated they would really be that stupid. “And Sasuke?” he then decided to ask.  
“He and Jūgo went outside in the direction that girl went.” Karin informed him.  
“Well, Sasuke's tough, he can handle anyone. Even someone this powerful.” the white haired teen acknowledged, not too worried about the Uchiha's welfare.  
“Yeah, let's hope.” the redhead admitted, certain he would be fine but still concerned nonetheless.  
“Jūgo's gotten even stronger then?” Suigetsu enquired, still observing the carnage.  
“Well, yeah.” Karin stated, not surprised Orochimaru's constant experiments had led to this.  
“By the way; you said Jūgo actually came to Orochimaru of his own free will?” the swordsman decided to question whilst they had a moment to chat.  
“Yeah.” the redhead confirmed plainly.  
“But why?” he asked, not entirely certain what could have possessed him into staying locked up here for so many years.  
“To get fixed, probably.” Karin surmised.  
“To get fixed?” the teen reiterated, turning to look at her in confusion.

Surely the constant failed experiments would have led to Jūgo figuring out that the sage had just been using him all this time for his own selfish gain?  
“To him Orochimaru's hideout is probably like some kind of rehabilitation facility where he can get better.” Karin surmised, not entirely sure how he thought being experimented on was 'fixing' him herself.  
“What is it that Jūgo wants to fix about himself?” the swordsman enquired, having no real knowledge on the prisoner himself.  
“Jūgo's impulses are like an addiction, he can't do anything about it on his own.” Karin explained, whilst Suigetsu's head tilted to the side. “He simply wants to control his urge to slaughter.” she added.


	8. Chapter 8

Meanwhile Jūgo had been shattering his way through wall after wall to try keep up with Sasuke whilst Kumi continued to try keep up and not get crushed by any of the collapsing ceilings.  
“You're dead!” Jūgo shouted, a deep scowl plastered to his face as he came hurtling through yet another wall whilst Sasuke leapt up and over falling concrete, his eyes directed firmly on where he was going as he, too, tried not to get crushed by anything in Jūgo's wake. “Why can't you get it through your head?” he shouted along the corridor towards the Uchiha that had been keeping his distance and balance surprisingly well considering the situation. “I. Can. Never. Leave!” he snapped, whilst Kumi slid round a corner and found herself at the back of a demolished corridor.  
“Dammit...” the young Senju cursed, unable to follow them in this direction any further.  
'Kimimaro, why? Why did you die and leave me all alone?' Jūgo questioned, his sullen glower of irritation dissipating, when he found he was gaining up on Sasuke, and turning into a chortling laughter.

Throwing his fist now that he was within reach of Sasuke his arm began to extend out and hurtle itself towards the back of the Uchiha's head, however, much to Jūgo's displeasure, Sasuke leapt up into the air, narrowly avoiding a fist to the back of his head and a sword blade to the front of his face, the sword and fist colliding with each other seconds later. Finally Sasuke was able to stop, his body twisting on his heel to see he had been saved by Suigetsu not a moment too soon.  
“Who are you?” Jūgo questioned, rather surprised by the sudden intrusion.  
“You're using a different technique than you did before, Jūgo. Not bad, I like it.” the teen replied, ready to take his sword to the redhead a second time.  
“Stop, Suigetsu.” Sasuke warned his interfering companion.  
“Yes, of course, we fought before, Suigetsu. I remember now.” Jūgo spoke, his memory of this guy being re-jogged.  
“You know this guy really is dangerous, Sasuke.” the teen warned the Uchiha. “Sasuke?” Jūgo questioned, the guy he had been fighting was Sasuke?

Confused Jūgo stood there with Karin and Sasuke behind him and Suitgetsu in front of him, the side of his arm shaped like an axe and ready for whoever came at him first.  
“We're not here to fight, Suitgetsu. Just let me talk to him.” Sasuke reminded the swordsman who was yet to leave his fighting stance.  
“I seriously doubt anything you're going to say is gonna get through to him.” the white haired nin responded with a smirk. “The only thing he understands is force!” he then shouted, running at Jūgo with his sword ready as the redhead lifted his arm to slice it down at his new opponent. Colliding their blades off of one another the pair grunted before Suigetsu tried to slice him in half, this time missing entirely when Jūgo ducked to avoid his blade.  
“Suigetsu, stop it, both of you!” Sasuke shouted, beginning to grow tired of them disobeying him yet again.  
'No, don't stop! Kill each other off!' Karin inwardly cheered, gaining more excitement the longer the pair continued to fight.

Charging at each other for the third time the pair were suddenly seized by Sasuke summoning two white snakes to constrict their movements, the pair forced to stop in their tracks as the Uchiha stood between them.  
“Do you both want me to kill you, is that it?” Sasuke questioned simply, whilst Suigetsu felt his skin sweat slightly as Jūgo just gave a him look of surprise. Quietly the pair stared at each other, their iris' and pupils flickering as he contemplated whether they wanted to chance it or not. After a good minute of silence Sasuke let them both go, his snakes unravelling from around them to recede back into the Uchiha's sleeves.  
'He really was about to kill us just now.' Suigetsu realised, taking a step back now that he was free. Meanwhile Karin had been stood watching this play out with a stupid grin on her face.  
'Oh Sasuke, you're incredible...' she mewled quietly to herself, was there anything that man could not do? 

Slowly Jūgo began to transform back to his natural, calm state, a cowardly expression on his face as he continued to stare at Suigetsu. Once his rage had lost its complete grip on him the teen looked around, what the hell was going on? Terrified to see he was out of his cell the redhead rolled his head from left to right, where was he? Where was Kumi? Starting to scream Jūgo drew Sasuke's attention to him as he ran screaming into a cell that had been left open behind him, the metal door slamming behind him just as Kumi stumbled through the wake of the carnage to find she was already too late.  
“What happened? Who was screaming!?” she questioned erratically, coming out from the shadows covered in blood.  
“What happened to you is a better question.” Suigetsu commented, seeing that weird woman had finally showed up again.  
“Did you get hit by rubble?” Karin questioned snidely, hoping it was life threatening.  
“Sasuke, where's Jūgo?” the young woman questioned, completely ignoring the two of them to look at him.  
“He panicked after he calmed down and ran into that cell.” he answered, able to see that it was someone else's blood on her kimono.

Frowning the young woman went over to the cell and pulled open the door, her head poking in as she tried to locate Jūgo.  
“Jūgo, where are you?” she questioned, disappearing inside and shutting the door behind herself.  
“Do you think he'll tear her arm off, or her leg off first?” Suigetsu questioned, not entirely sure why she had gone in there alone.  
“H-Hurry up and lock me in!” the redhead shouted, clutching at his hair in panic.  
“Jūgo?” Kumi asked, deeply concerned for him.  
“K-Kumi?” the redhead questioned, lifting his head to see it really was her. “Kumi!” he reiterated, grabbing her by the wrist to yank her onto his lap and squeeze the hell out of her.  
“Jūgo, it's okay.” she tried to calm him down, stroking her fingers through his hair as he breathed heavily into her neck.  
“Jūgo, I only came to free you.” Sasuke stated through the door. “Come with me.” he then requested, hoping that he could get him to cooperate now.  
“Shh, shhh...” Kumi tried to soothe him, his heavy breathing slowly dissipating.

Having quietly observed the entire thing Suigetsu stared at the door.  
“He's too scared.” he commented, having not really anticipated that this would be Jūgo's true nature.  
“No, that's not it.” Karin interjected, gaining both of their attentions.  
“I don't want to kill any more people.” the redhead pleaded, now crying slightly. “I don't want to go outside... Leave me alone!” he then shouted, lifting his head to look at the door from over her shoulder.  
“What is this?” Suigetsu commented, even more confused by this side of him. “Talk about split personality...” he added.  
“I told you so.” Karin stated firmly. “Jūgo has this uncontrollable urge to kill. He's unable to suppress it.” she continued, stepping closer towards the cell. “Even though he really doesn't want to kill people.” she murmured.  
“I don't know when I'll kill someone again.” Jūgo protested, trembling against Kumi. “So just put the lock on!” he demanded, digging his nails into her back now as she tried not to voice her discomfort.

Frowning Suigetsu looked from the door to Sasuke.  
“See, this guy is dangerous, Sasuke. I can't even walk in front of him without getting nervous.” he stated firmly, now fully unconvinced that anything could be done for him.  
“What's with you guys? Just leave me alone!” Jūgo snapped, clueless as to why they persisted to stand outside the unlocked cell door. It was fine when it was just Kimimaro, it was fine when it was just Kumi. He did not need more people to potentially kill in cold blood. Feeling that Kumi had done as much as she could to calm Jūgo down Sasuke began to step forward, prepared to deal with the rest himself.  
“Orochimaru is dead.” he bluntly informed him, causing Kumi to gasp and Jūgo to still.  
'What?' the young Senju questioned, was that why they had come here?  
“This hideout has been destroyed, if you stay here you'll die as well.” the Uchiha continued, still walking towards the iron door.

Frowning Jūgo pulled himself away from Kumi slightly, his eyes staring down at her sash.  
“That's fine with me... I don't want to kill anyone ever again!” the redhead stated firmly as Sasuke stopped outside the closed door and leaned in close to it.  
“Don't worry, I will become your cage.” the Uchiha promised him, a promise that seemed to register with Jūgo. “I will stop you.” he added firmly.  
“What can you do? The only one who could stop me was Kimimaro.” Jūgo admitted, knowing that Kumi was only really able to keep him calm until someone stumbled into his sights, and only then could she only calm him down once they were dead. “Without Kimimaro I wont leave!” he stated firmly.  
“Kimimaro? You mean of the Kaguya clan?” Suigetsu questioned, certain he recognised that name from somewhere.  
“Jūgo and Kimimaro were especially favoured by Orochimaru. They were kept together in this hide out for human experiments for a long time.” Karin explained, trying to remember what she knew of their situation.

Trying to continue to soothe the redhead Kumi listened in to what they were saying carefully, Jūgo had never talked to her about him in the two years they had been together. Any mention of him only ever upset Jūgo to the point that she avoided the subject at all times, even when Kabuto mentioned him.  
“Jūgo was valuable for human experiments and Kimimaro was the only one able to stop Jūgo's rampages without hurting him.” Karin added, not entirely sure where that put the woman who had gone in there alone.  
“But I thought that guy was already...” Suigetsu uttered, mildly confused.  
“Yeah...” the redhead quietly confirmed.  
“Jūgo... Kimimaro died for my sake. He's no longer here.” the Uchiha stated firmly, causing Jūgo to tense up.  
“Died for your sake?!” the redhead snapped. “Then you're...” he murmured, looking up at the door again. “Sasuke Uchiha?” he asked, tilting up out of his hunched over position that little bit more.  
“Yes.” Sasuke confirmed.  
“Sasuke...” Jūgo reiterated, turning to look back down at Kumi's lap in thought.

Going into deep thought Jūgo stared at her legs as the young woman watched him, was Sasuke finally getting through to him in a way that she could not? Feeling him shift Kumi shuffled off of him and got to her feet so that he could stand up as well, her head turning as she watched him silently go over to the door and open it to look out at Sasuke.  
'Is that how it is, Kimimaro?' Jūgo questioned, staring down at the ebony haired teen. Looking past Jūgo to Sasuke the young woman waited, hoping that this was what Jūgo needed to finally get him to leave the prison, and to her luck it was as soon enough she found herself stood outside beside Jūgo as the Uchiha gave them orders.  
“Now I have all the members I had in mind... Plus... Kumi.” Sasuke uttered, glancing at the young woman who he had not intended to bring with him at first. He had planned to just ditch her here but Jūgo seemed to be that little bit more confident with her next to him, and if it made controlling him that little less bothersome then Sasuke would gladly accept it.  
“So I will tell you my goal.” he continued, looking back towards his recruits. “My goal is to kill Itachi Uchiha of the Akatsuki.” he informed them plainly.

Hearing such a name made Kumi's eyebrows raise a little, were they not the same people who had been supposedly trying to kill her?  
“Thought so.” Suigetsu commented, not entirely surprised to hear that Sasuke wanted to kill the Uchiha that massacred his entire village.  
'Itachi Uchiha? But that's his brother...' Karin quietly thought to herself, surprised to hear he was going through all of this to kill a relative.  
“And I want to borrow your strength for that. Naturally I wont force you... Karin you said you had business to take care of. What will you do?” Sasuke asked, turning his attentions to the redhead.  
“W-Well it's not that urgent...” she replied, hiding her excitement from behind her glasses.  
“Karin... be honest with yourself.” Suigetsu butted in, turning his head to look at her. “Isn't being with Sasuke all you really want?” he mocked, grinning at her as her expression quickly changed.  
“Th-That's not true! Whoever-” she began to rant, whilst Kumi just watched on quietly with flattened features.

Was this what Sasuke had really put together for such a huge operation? Glancing up at Jūgo the young woman's features began to relax again, he had been staring at her for a while now.  
“Are you okay?” she asked, taking a moment to look down at his bare feet. “You really hate shoes, huh?” the young woman observed, to which he looked down as well and twitched his toes a little.  
“The rock's kind of hot out here.” he admitted, having not felt the sensations of the outside world in a very long time. About to say something else Kumi stilled as she watched Karin suddenly punch Suigetsu and turn his head into water, her mouth opening slightly whilst Sasuke just frowned a little at this.  
“Suigetsu, don't get Karin so worked up. I thought I told you to be cooperative.” he stated, in no mood to put up with this for however long it takes them to complete his goal.  
“Alright... sorry Karin.” the swordsman apologised, his head returning to normal. “But as much as you hate it I'm sticking to Sasuke like glue.” he informed her, making it clear he was going no where.

Watching on Kumi began to wonder where she would fit into this little group, certainly she had been working hard on her jutsu over the last two years but she knew she was nowhere as strong as Jūgo or Sasuke, and she was certain Karin and Suigetsu were just as strong if Sasuke had this much faith in them.  
“At least, I'll stay until I possess one of the Seven Hidden Mist Blades.” he continued, not about to let Sasuke misunderstand his position in the group either. “Kisame Hoshigaki has the Great Shark Fin sword that I want.” he added.  
“So you're just sword collecting? How lame...” Karin commented dryly, pissing off the white haired teen while Kumi had thought it was quite interesting that he wanted swords rather than fame or glory.  
“Suigetsu.” Sasuke reminded him, gaining his attention.  
“I know. Jūgo, what about you?” Suigetsu questioned, turning to look up at the big guy.  
“Kimimaro used to say that you where his reincarnation, Sasuke, and he bet his life to protect you.” Jūgo answered. Having been looking at Suigetsu, who had first asked him what he planned to do, Jūgo turned his line of sight to Sasuke. “So I want to see with my own eyes just how great of a ninja you are.” he stated, agreeing that he would follow the Uchiha wherever they needed to go.  
“Then it's all set.” Sasuke finally spoke, glad to see everyone was on board with his plan. “From this point on we move together, and henceforth we call ourselves Hebi.” Sasuke stated, informing them of their group name. “Hebi has but one objective... Itachi Uchiha.” the ebony haired teen confirmed, to which the group nodded.

Having been walking for days the team had eventually found themselves in the Country of Lightning, a place made mostly of rock and cliffs, which was where it got its name from Kumi assumed. All around them Kumi would only really see rocks, rocks and more rocks, which she quietly voiced to herself as she walked behind Jūgo.  
“Rock, rock... rock.” she murmured, gasping suddenly. Curious as to what was wrong Jūgo turned his head to look down at her, while Karin and Sasuke had been trying to block her ramblings out he had been quietly listening to her.  
“No, no... Just another rock.” the young woman sighed.  
“What did you think it was?” he asked, looking over at the lump of rock.  
“A boulder.” she sighed, going back to seeing how many rocks she could see.  
“I can't go on. Let's take a short break...” Suigetsu groaned, his lips clasped around a straw as he walked wearily across the hot rocks.  
“As long as you drag your feet like that we'll never get there!” Karin protested, turning to glower at the nin who was much further behind the rest of them.  
“Well pardon me, but unlike you I have a very delicate constitution.” Suigetsu stated, while Jūgo stopped and Kumi just kept going.

Having not really noticed the three of them had stopped Kumi sighed, she had taken her shoes off to try locate traces of water trapped underneath the rock but all she had gotten so far was painfully hot soles, how Jūgo could walk everywhere in his bare feet was beyond her.  
“Huh? Look, just evaporate you water ghost!” Karin protested, wishing he would vanish so she did not have to listen to him complaining any more.  
“Why don't you get lost instead?” the teen answered, not particularly bothered by her comments. “I thought you had somewhere else to go?” he then questioned as he limply staggered past her to finally catch up to where Jūgo was standing.  
“We're here.” Sasuke finally stated, causing Kumi to stop staring at her feet and look up to where the Uchiha was looking.  
In the distance the group could see the tall peaks of buildings, a look of glee coming over Kumi's features.  
'A city? A city!' she quietly cheered to herself, she could finally get a new dress that was not covered in blood! Her hopes, however, were quickly dashed when they got closer and she began to see that the windows were shattered and the buildings were decaying.  
“This place has seen better days.” Kumi acknowledged, looking around herself.  
“It is abandoned.” Karin commented, rolling her eyes a little as they walked through the empty streets.  
“This is the place.” Sasuke soon informed them, stopping outside a specific building.  
“What a creepy looking place.” Suigetsu commented, still not exactly sure why they had come here.

Leading them inside the group followed behind Sasuke while Kumi continued to stay where she was for a short moment, her head tilted up to look at a sign.  
“That's not been a company for fifteen years.” she commented quietly, wondering just how long this place had been deserted for and for what reason it had been abandoned for in the first place. Deciding to look around instead the young Senju peered inside shattered shop windows and up towards sky-high apartments that would once have been lived in, if there had been anything left to steal then by now it surely had already been looted or gone out of date.  
“Hm...” she murmured, seeing a clothe shop to go look around in. Pushing open the door Kumi wandered inside and looked around the empty shop, some of the shelves and display cases were knocked onto the floor while a mannequin lay on its back.  
“What a mess.” she sighed to herself, picking the mannequin up off of the floor to stand it upright.  
“Indeed it is, Neko-no-Kao.” came a voice that made her jump out of her skin, her body twisting on her heel to look behind herself. 

Confused Kumi looked around, certain someone had said something.  
“Down here.” they stated, her eyes lowering and then her head to look at a cat.  
“A cat?” she asked, beginning to squat. “Do cats talk?” she then asked herself.  
“Ninneko can.” it answered, the hand she was going to start petting it with stilling.  
“Oh, I guess that makes sense.” Kumi admitted, pulling her hand back in and onto her lap.  
“What are you doing here, Neko-no-Kao?” the cat asked, while she just continued to examine the cute little coat it was wearing.  
“Neko... no.. Kao?” she asked, her head tilting to the side. “It's Kumi, not 'cat face'.” she both corrected and greeted the cat.  
“Are you here with those other people?” he asked, sniffing her dress and noting the small speckles of blood on the fabric.  
“Those people?” Kumi questioned, realising he must have meant Sasuke and the others. “Oh, yeah, I am...” she uttered, suddenly shooting to her feet. “Oh my, I got distracted by the buildings! I have no idea where they went.” she protested, heading to the door and going outside before stilling when she felt the cat leap up onto her satchel and then walk across her hunched over back until he could stop and flop over her shoulder.

Confused Kumi straightened her back and turned to look at the black, rather round cat.  
“I'll take you to them for a price.” he uttered, lazing there. “I can't be bothered walking so carry me.” he then stated, to which her once concerned features flattened.  
“Oh, sure...” she uttered, beginning to allow the cat to lead her in the right direction with its paw. “Hey... can I ask you a question?” Kumi asked, wandering down the darkened corridor.  
“Yeah, sure.” the lazy cat mulled through a yawn.  
“Ninneko come from another world right?” she asked.  
“Yes.” the cat confirmed.  
“What's on the other side? Do you guys have like... little shops, and villages? All ran by cats?” Kumi questioned, which was not what he had expected her to ask.  
“Yes, it's not unlike here, except I guess cat houses are smaller.” he informed her. “And everyone goes around in little boots.” he added, to which she began to blush and squee.  
“That's so cute!” she gasped, to which the cat began to laugh.  
“I was joking!” he mocked, causing her expression to sour.  
“Can you imagine how troublesome it would be for us if we wore boots?” he questioned, shaking his head as he scoffed.

Flicking his tail from side to side the cat began to hum.  
“I felt there was something different about you in comparison to the others. Only a fool would wander an empty, potentially dangerous city alone without any care for her surroundings.” the black cat murmured, to which she frowned further.  
“I was just curious about the city. I've never seen such a big place just... abandoned like that.” Kumi admitted, entering another room to find the others standing there.  
“Oh, Kumi, there you are.” Suigetsu commented, having just started to wonder where the girl had vanished off to.  
“I found Neko-no-Kao wandering around the streets.” the cat informed them, too lazy to get up and drop down to be beside his fellow cats on the floor.

Sniffing the air the lazy cat began to stand up, causing Kumi to wobble slightly as he stood on her shoulders.  
“Oi, oi... I smell catnip.” he stated, his gaze narrowing.  
“You don't get any, you weren't here.” the other cat stated, continuing to lead the group to see Nekobaa.  
“You come up here and say that.” the cat hissed, to which Kumi just furrowed her features.  
“Please don't use me as a battle ground.” she requested, feeling the cat just huff and then fall down onto her shoulder again.  
“Bah! I'll get them later...” he murmured, deciding to continue to use Kumi as a taxi service. “Onwards, Neko-no-Kao!” the cat then commanded, batting his tail off of her shoulders as she frowned and walked through the group to somehow end up leading them.  
“I told you, my name is Kumi. Stop calling me cat face.” she huffed before then sighing, she was arguing with a cat.

Being brought before Nekobaa the group stood awkwardly behind Sasuke, while Kumi just took the time to peer around. This woman really loved her cats, in fact she was covered in them.  
“I owe you, Nekobaa.” Sasuke tried to speak, his voice slightly overpowered by the mewling and hissing of cats.  
“It's been so long since we last met, but you're in such a hurry.” the old woman commented, sitting cross-legged with a pipe.  
“Yeah, I have something important to do.” Sasuke explained, picking up a small jar. As he did this the others continued to look around the room, with Suigetsu trying to get some of the ordinary cats to come closer so that he could pet them.  
“Hey, hey, are you a cat too?” another Ninneko asked, peering up at Kumi.  
“No, I'm not a cat, I'm-” she tried to answer before the cat on her shoulder butted in.  
“Neko-no-Kao, Neko-no-Kao!” he mewled loudly, causing her eyebrow to twitch.  
“I told you already, it's Kumi!” she snapped, glaring at the rude feline.  
“Temper like a cat too.” he commented as more cats came to parade around her feet.  
“Neko-no-Kao!” the cats had began to chant in unisons, only making her more annoyed.

Sighing Kumi looked over towards Jūgo to see what he was doing, her eyebrows raising to find he was now wearing black shinobi sandals and a baggy hakama.  
“Even this one is too small.” the brunette who had been helping him commented, apparently having a really tough time dressing Jūgo. Kumi, at that point, could not help but feel the slightest flicker of jealousy. He looked so calm next to that girl, to make matters worse he was not even wearing his shirt so she could see how ripped he was.  
“Jealousy is a fickle thing.” the black cat purred, peering across the room to see what she was pouting at.  
“Jealous?” Kumi asked, her brow darkening. “I'm not jealous.” she murmured quietly, turning to look elsewhere.  
“So you're going to see Itachi after all?” Nekobaa questioned, watching him roll up the sleeve of equipment he had taken from her. “I've known both of you since you were little, but little did I imagine it would come to this...” she admitted, watching him continue to make preparations for his departure. “You two are all that's left of the Uchiha clan, and now you'll have to fight to the death.” she continued to tell him off, but again he did not seem to be listening to her.

Taking out the money he needed to pay her for her troubles Sasuke finally spoke.  
“I'm going now. Thanks for everything.” he thanked her simply, making her sigh at his stubbornness.  
“Granny, don't we have something bigger for him to wear?” the young brunette called over, starting to run out of shirts to hold up against his shoulders.  
“In that box over there!” the old woman called over, annoyed to have been disrupted at a time like this.  
“Nothing fits.” she responded, just as annoyed as she was but simply because she could not find anything for him to wear.  
“Then just wrap a curtain around him!” the old woman shouted, causing Kumi to snort a little and then try to hide that she had done so by hiding behind her hand as she stared at a photo. “I don't run a clothing store!” Nekobaa then reminded her.  
“Granny! What a rude thing to say considering he paid us!” the brunette protested, pausing as Jūgo grabbed a curtain and literally wrapped it around himself like some sort of romantic hero.

Watching this the corner of Kumi's lip began to twitch, her nose flaring as she let out yet another a snort that she quickly masked with her hand.  
“You're trying too hard not to laugh...” the cat commented dryly, his head turning back to that he could look at her from his position on her shoulder.  
“Fine.” Jūgo stated, not particularly bothered whether he wore a curtain or a shirt. “What do you think, Kumi?” he then asked, turning to look at the young woman who was on her knees, hunched over and shaking whilst she was surrounded by cats.  
“It's great.” she answered in a shrill voice.  
“Is she okay?” Suigetsu asked, giving her a lop-sided stare.  
“I'm fine.” she replied, shaking one hand as the other gripped her face.  
“I don't think she's fine...” Karin murmured as Jūgo came over to see what on earth she was doing.

Taking a deep breath the young woman relaxed her shoulders, turning to give the group the same plain, permanently smiling face she always had.  
“I told you, I'm fine.” she uttered, looking up at Jūgo.  
“Do you think this cloak looks silly?” the redhead questioned, looking at it. Examining him quietly Kumi tilted her head to the side, it was certainly different. Taking a moment to see that she could see just a sliver of his torso the young woman then began to smile a little.  
“... I'm not complaining.” she uttered, feeling she could definitely get used to the curtain.  
“Oi, oi, Neko-no-Kao, that's not what you-” the cat went to say, stiffening when Kumi put a hand on top of his head.  
“I told you, it's Kumi.” she uttered with the same friendly look on her face, her palm stroking down his back with what felt like a brush, but he was certain it was something else entirely.  
“Oh, well now that you mention it, you did really look like you liked it.” the cat mewled stiffly, only really relaxing after she had put her arm back down by her side for a good minute or so.

Leaving the city Kumi stilled when Suigetsu made a comment towards her.  
“You know that cat is still on your shoulder, right?” he questioned, causing her to look at the black fat with mild confusion.  
“Oh, it is...” she uttered. “Your stop was at that woman's house.” the young Senju commented, while the cat just purred.  
“I decided to stick with you for a while. Nekobaa can summon me back when she needs me.” the lazy feline informed her, to which the young woman flattened her features.  
“Seriously?” she asked, feeling that the collar on the black cloak she had been given was a little tighter with him sticking out of it to.  
“Hey, maybe I'll teach you how to summon your own Ninneko if you're good to me.” he suggested, causing her expression to grow into contemplation.


	9. Chapter 9

Later on into their journey Kumi had pulled up her hood over her head and the cat when it started to downpour, a small frown parting her lips as she tried to see through the ridiculously heavy rain.  
'Well, at least it's not hot any more...' the young woman quietly thought to herself as she pulled out a second jar to catch the rain in, her feet coming to a halt when the group stopped on top of a rock over-looking the direction of their next destination. From there they stood staring out across the valley in thought while Kumi just hoped they would eventually stop for shelter if the weather kept up like this.  
“Let's go.” Sasuke stated, having stared out across the valley for a few minutes trying to think of the best way to go from here. Travelling for most of the night the group eventually found their way to a town where the group branched out in various directions to do a few things, for Kumi that was going to a clothe shop that was actually fully functioning to buy a new dress.  
“Why didn't you get them to dress you back at Nekobaa's place?” the cat questioned, watching her pull clothes up to her chest only to look dissatisfied and put it back.  
“I'm really fussy about clothes, part of me wants to just keep wearing the kimono.” the young Senju explained.

Frowning the cat peered around, his eyes sharply spotting a top she was probably going to like.  
“What about that? It looks like the top part of a kimono.” he commented, gaining her attention. “Oh, that is nice. Good eye, cat.” she uttered, picking it up only to pause when she saw it was in white too.  
“White isn't a good colour for the battlefield. You're better with dark clothes.” he uttered, watching her frown for a moment before lowering it back down onto the hook to take the pitch-black one instead.  
“I guess you're right.” she agreed, picking up a hakama of equal colour and then pausing when she spotted what looked like the bottom half of a kimono. “I have an idea.” she gasped, putting everything on in the changing room before coming out to show the cat. “Taa-daa!” she spoke with her arms up at either side of her chest.  
“It's interesting.” the cat uttered, examining the kimono style shirt, which was more like a crop-top, before lowering his eyes down to the fabric wrapped around her hip, how it was being kept up around the waistband of her hakama was a little confusing but it looked fine none the less.

Stood there, staring into the mirror, Kumi struck a few poses before pausing.  
“Hm, maybe I should go for the knee-length hakama and buy long boots.” she uttered in thought, having spotted a pair of boots that would cut off a few inches from her knees.  
“Whatever makes you happy.” the cat uttered, lazing on his side on the carpeted flooring. Swapping them round so that she had a short hakama and long boots Kumi hummed again, it definitely felt much better this way round. Buying these things the pair left the store to look around again, her eyes falling upon a barbers.  
“Hm, I wonder if I should get my hair cut.” she contemplated, glancing at her hip length hair.  
“Your hair is fine.” the cat grumbled, sick of having to go into practically every shop the woman saw. “Just tie it up or something.” he tutted, glancing up at her.  
“Well, I guess you are missing one thing for your head.” he acknowledged, managing to summon something out of thin air and stick it to her head.

Confused the young woman tried to look up at what he had stuck there before then looking into her reflection in the window.  
“Cat ears?” she asked, giving her reflection a furrowed stare.  
“If you want to control your own band of Ninneko then you need to look the part.” he informed her, to which she turned away from the window, still not quite certain she wanted to have cat ears on her head, before sighing.  
“Well, I guess they go with my face.” she uttered, making a weak jab at her own misfortune.  
“That's the spirit, Neko-no-Kao!” the cat cheered her on.  
“... I wonder what the others are doing.” the young woman pondered, looking around the high street to see no sign of any of them.

After some amount of wandering around the young woman eventually found herself in the local forest, deciding that, if they were busy elsewhere, she might as well stock up on some supplies she needed.  
“What are you doing?” the cat asked, sitting on the ground watching her bury her hands into the soil.  
“I need wood for my jutsus.” she explained, closing her eyes and beginning to concentrate. Quietly the cat's calm expression went from confusion to shock as he watched her grow a tree from nothing at a rapid rate. Jumping to his feet the cat stared at it in wide wonder before looking around himself to see the environment begin to respond to her.  
“Oi, oi! What are you doing?” he asked, watching flowers, grass and even leaves begin to point skywards.  
“Shh.” she told him off, her brow furrowing as she began to stand up and let the tree follower he palms upwards.  
“Kumi?” Jūgo asked as he came out from behind a tree, having felt the weird presence of something almost unnatural from this direction.

Having been locked up in the northern prison for all this time he had never actually been able to see Kumi using her wood techniques before, his mouth opening slightly as he watched everything around her rising strangely. Finally she had completed the jutsu, her expression calming as she took a step back to admire her work.  
“You grew a whole tree?!” the cat questioned, staring up at it before he started to claw and kick it to see if it were just a mere illusion.  
“I can grow a lot of things.” she replied, turning to see Jūgo was here. “Oh, hello.” she greeted him, confused as to why he was staring at her like that. “Is something wrong?” she asked, starting to look concerned.  
“N-No, I just haven't... seen you do that before.” he stammered, looking away from her awkwardly.  
“Oh...” she uttered, looking away. “I guess I never got to show you.” she admitted, taking a moment to examine Jūgo's little green friends. “Aw, those birds are so cute.” Kumi acknowledged, however before she could come over and pet them the birds had scattered from his shoulders in fear.

Confused the young woman stilled, her hand recoiling back towards herself.  
“Oh, I'm sorry!” she gasped. “I didn't think I'd scare them like that...” she apologised, lowering her hand to her side.  
“You smell like cat, that's all.” he informed her, to which she lifted her hand to sniff her knuckle.  
“I do?” she asked, looking even more like a cat now than ever. Looking back up at Jūgo the young Senju became concerned when she realised he had began to transform, his curse mark glowing as it crawled up his face.  
“Jūgo?” the young woman questioned as her feline companion clambered up her back to hide inside her cloak.  
“The enemy approaches.” the cat uttered from beneath her cloak, causing her to tense and look around quickly. 

Unable to sense anything the young woman could only stand with her back to Jūgo, making sure that nothing could sneak up behind him.  
“I can smell Ninken too.” he added, his nose twitching as it poked up just outside her collar.  
“I guess I'll have to spy on them through the ground.” the young woman commented, placing her hand onto the tree she had grown.  
“Keep an eye out, Jūgo, I'm going to use the root lines to try figure out where the enemy is.” Kumi requested, placing both hands onto the bark of the tree and closing her eyes. Concentrating as hard as she could Kumi picked up on every individual currently standing on the ground, however she only targetted anything with dogs.  
“... I'm picking up a large enemy riding in from the south, moving fast. Another coming in from the north, one enemy two dogs. Another to the east, one enemy one dog.” Kumi began to inform them, whilst Jūgo rolled his eyes from left to right. “None of them are near, but they are gaining in proximity fast.” she stated, her brow beginning to sweat.

Quietly the cat had been watching her, simply amazed that she was able to track them using the trees. Most humans used either their sense of smell or the target's chakra trails to track them, but where they were able to disguise their chakra or mask their scent Kumi could still find them simply because they were in contact with the ground.  
“Three enemy coming from the east with one dog.” she continued, causing the cat to frown. How many of these people were there? “I can feel one more; one enemy with two dogs inside the city.” Kumi stated, now able to map and observe these targets specifically.  
“Can you keep track of them?” Jūgo asked, watching her carefully pull away from the tree.  
“Yeah, I've chained their earth bound chakra to my feet, I'll be able to track them so long as they stay grounded.” Kumi informed him, glad she now, too, could sense the enemy.  
“Will you be okay?” the redhead asked, seeing how tense her entire face looked.  
“Yeah, it just takes a lot of concentration to do this. It's not perfect but I've never used it for anything other than finding hidden water sources.” Kumi admitted, patting his arm gently to reassure him.

Stilling a few minutes later Kumi began to frown.  
“Wait...” she uttered, causing Jūgo to still. “I sense one of the enemy is in range of a member.” she uttered, trying to figure out who. “In the city, enemy with two dogs... Karin is heading in their direction.” she uttered, her eyebrows twitching. “They've collided...” she continued, trying to figure out what the situation was. “They're... passing each other.” she then reassured both Jūgo and the cat. “The enemy is continuing to walk away.” she sighed, glad that Karin had gone by undetected. “I'll keep tracking her as well now. Hopefully I'll be able to find the others.” she murmured, continuing to follow Jūgo slowly. After some more time Kumi stopped again, causing Jūgo to still as well.  
“What is it this time?” he asked, certain it was something bad.  
“Western target has stopped, a new enemy has appeared.” she uttered. “I've also located Sasuke to the south-west... A new enemy has appeared.” she stated, trying to figure out if they were with the trackers or two different people completely.

Frowning the cat stared at her, she really had her work cut out for her with all these people appearing now.  
“They're strong...” she uttered, falling against Jūgo. “All of them are strong, it's hard to stream all of them.” Kumi groaned. “But... But I recognise one of these chakras... Kabuto?” she questioned, her confused expression turning to certainty. “No, Kabuto is with the enemy to the west.” she confirmed.  
“Kabuto is still alive?” Jūgo asked, having thought he too had been killed by Sasuke back at the hideout.  
“The enemy to the south-west is far stronger than Sasuke, I don't know how he is though.” Kumi huffed, her brow beginning to sweat.  
“Kumi...” the redhead murmured. “Release the jutsu, you're going to hurt yourself...” he requested, watching her shake her head.  
“No, this is the only thing I can do to help. I want to be able to do something.” the young woman refused, taking another deep breath. “Bury me.” she then requested.

Being taken off guard the teen stared at her as if she were crazy.  
“What?” he asked, uncertain he had heard the correctly.  
“If you bury me I'll have full access to the ground, just make sure my head stays above ground so I can tell you what's going on.” she confirmed, taking off her cloak before stepping backwards to give him some space. Not entirely certain he liked her plan Jūgo did as she requested and punched a hole in the ground before extending his arm out until it was deep enough for her, thereafter he pulled his arm out and helped her into the hole which was just deep enough that her head poked out.  
“Is it... working?” the cat asked, giving her a weird look.  
“Much better, I can draw all the chains to various parts of my body now so it's spread out more evenly.” Kumi explained, peering up at Jūgo as he stared down at her comedic looking position.

Seeing her make a furrowed expression Jūgo stared at her with concern.  
“What's wrong?” he asked, worried burying her was the issue.  
“Sasuke's under attack, a massive amount of chakra just appeared across the ground where he was standing.” she informed him as she tried to figure out if it were a direct hit or not.  
“Was it the new enemy?” the cat asked, having taken to sitting on top of her head.  
“No, there are two of them now...” Kumi admitted, only just sensing a new set of feet touching soil. “Nothing else is happening right now.” the young Senju admitted, feeling all other directions were just as calm as before.  
“And Kabuto?” Jūgo questioned.  
“Still standing with the enemy. I can only guess that they're talking.” Kumi surmised, falling back into silence thereafter. “Kabuto's presence is gone now. Whatever he was doing he left without any violence.” the young Senju informed them, causing the cat to sigh.  
“Well, at least that's one less enemy for you to worry about.” the feline surmised, licking his paw from atop her head.

Turning her attentions to Sasuke the young woman tried to figure out what was going on on that end, her arms spreading out against the walls of the hole she was in to try widen the radius she could pick up chakra from.  
“He's fine.” Kumi finally was able to confirm, picking up his presence again before feeling another explosion that appeared to be on his end. “Seems whatever hit him was deflected by one of his defensive jutsu.” she acknowledged, able to feel his chakra go back to a natural diameter around his feet. Narrowing her gaze Kumi peered out across the ground, the wind ruffling her white hair gently. “Sasuke and the enemy have started fighting.” she uttered, feeling one vanish and then reappear from a higher point, presumably from a tree branch. “The far stronger one... did something, his chakra peeked but I don't know why, they're all just standing around again.” the young woman sighed.  
“This isn't much of a fight, is it?” the cat uttered, feeling there was far too much talking going on.  
“They've started fighting again, I've lost Sasuke's presence again.” Kumi sighed, able to feel yet another peak of chakra from what she could only describe as an explosion. “One of them is using explosives, I think...” the young Senju acknowledged.

Keeping an eye on them Kumi frowned when Sasuke's opponent seemed to multiply, sending two things towards him, what they had sent was beyond her however.  
“I wish I was able to visually see what was going on.” the young woman admitted, at least glad she was getting copious amounts of practise in this new technique of hers.  
“So do I.” the cat sighed, pulling his arms and legs out from underneath him to flop onto Kumi's head.  
“Maybe we can get closer?” Kumi suggested, pulling one of her arms out before feeling herself getting hoisted up by Jūgo and then placed back down on the ground. Quietly the redhead watched as numerous spikes all across her arms, shoulders and neck began to dissipate back into her body.  
“So that's how you were doing it.” the cat uttered.  
“While I was perfecting the technique I figured out that creating chakra rods from my body made it easier to send and receive signals.” Kumi explained as they went towards the vicinity of Sasuke, albeit at a slow pace due to the Senju having to walk slowly.

As they walked Kumi continued to update them on the various situations around them, however none of these enemies ever seemed to come within proximity of them.  
“Whatever Sasuke's doing he's being swamped by the enemy.” the young Senju uttered, beginning to worry that he was starting to become overrun by whatever his attacker had been throwing at him.  
“How many now?” the feline asked, following beside her at the slow pace they were going at.  
“Sixteen, eighteen...” the young woman replied, lowering her brow. “No matter what he does the enemy keeps multiplying in twos...” she murmured, trying to think of what could possibly be fighting him.  
“Do we can roll out shadow clones.” the cat surmised. “An advanced form of cloning, perhaps?” he then questioned.  
“It doesn't feel like a cloning technique... Some sort of shadow manipulation?” Kumi pondered, trying to recall the techniques she had read about in every book she had been given over the past two years.

Nothing, however, seemed remotely close to what was doing on around Sasuke.  
“I thought maybe puppets, the chakra is linked back to the enemy in a chain from every 'object' Sasuke chops in half.” Kumi uttered in thought, trying to keep up with Jūgo who was in a rush to get to the scene of the fight. “Wait, something's happening.” she acknowledged, able to sense a higher signal stream its way down the chain to every enemy, followed by several chakra impulses. “The enemy has started to blow up.” she uttered, still rather curious as to what he had been fighting.  
“So he's fine then?” the cat questioned, looking around himself carefully.  
“Yeah. From what I gathered every time the enemy multiplied it spread out the range of the attack at the cost of weakening the impact, allowing Sasuke to escape with ease.” she explained. “Now he's chasing Sasuke with the others to try blow him up, they're much slower than he is from what I can tell so he should be fine for now.” the young woman added.

Continuing to walk Kumi groaned.  
“What, what is it?” Jūgo questioned, looking back at her hastily.  
“Sasuke's chakra levels just increases in several places, whatever was chasing him has attached itself to him. He's now stationary.” she informed them, and this time the group could hear the explosion off in the distance.  
“I don't need you telling me what happened that time!” the cat gasped, able to see smoke billowing up over the trees.  
“This isn't good, I've lost his chakra presence again.” Kumi uttered, trying madly to relocate his chakra.  
“Calm down, Neko-no-Kao, or you really are going to burst a blood vessel or something!” the feline protested, while Jūgo stopped to look at her frantic expression. “There, found him!” she shouted, pointing in the direction they were already going in. “He's okay.” she then huffed, calming down. “They're just standing around again...” the young woman then sighed, to which the cat grunted.

Finding a vantage point to watch from the group could not see a vague outline of Sasuke and his two rivals in the distance.  
“We'll watch from here.” Jūgo uttered, stood on the edge of the cliff. “Concentrate on the others now, Kumi...” he then requested, glancing down at her as she stood beside him and nodded.  
“What's that thing he just summoned?” the cat asked, now perched on top of Jūgo's shoulder to get a better view.  
“I don't know, it's the same as the ones he was fighting just a minute ago, but it has a lot more chakra inside it. I think that'll make a far bigger explosion.” Kumi replied, having never seen something like it before. “It's definitely not stone or wood.” she uttered.  
“Can you tell what natures he's using?” Jūgo questioned, uncertain if that were something she could sense.  
“I don't know, I'll try.” she uttered, focusing in on the enemy to track his chakra out-put.  
“It should be possible.” the cat acknowledged. “When chakra paper is mixed with your chakra it is able to change depending on what nature you are, if that's the case every nature has its own unique feel to it.” the feline added, watching the scene play out in front of him.

Narrowing her gaze Kumi concentrated on the chakra flowing up into the object, her brow twitching again.  
“Don't strain yourself that hard.” the cat then uttered, giving her a weak expression.  
“Earth...” she spoke, her voice strained a little. “Earth and... lightning.” she finally gasped, releasing her firm grip on his chakra.  
“Hm, then indeed the enemy is using explosives, which leads me to think he's using clay...” the feline uttered, unsure of any other substance that could be used in such a solid manner without decreasing the potency of the bomb.  
“Oi, oi!” the cat then shouted, seeing one of the bombs come flying out from the beasts mouth and start to take flight. “These things can fly!” he stated, watching it in shock.  
“Attacking from the air...” Jūgo murmured. “This isn't good.” he surmised, glancing at Kumi as she continued to survey the area around them to make sure they were safe at all times.  
“The big one's taking flight!” the feline then shouted.  
“If that thing blows up the damage could be catastrophic.” the young Senju uttered, gulping slightly. 

As the fight progressed the young woman began to gasp.  
“Sasuke's about to land on the trap hidden under ground!” Kumi shouted, followed by a massive explosion.  
“Tsk.” Jūgo snorted, watching the area around the Uchiha go up in smoke and fire.  
“Whoever these guys are they're insane.” the cat uttered, glad they had decided not to get any closer.  
“The explosive peak is gone, Sasuke's own chakra is in place. He's entered level two of the curse.” Kumi stated, able to sense that without even being able to see him through the thick cloud of dirt. “That other guy, he's planted landmines...” Kumi murmured.  
“Hmph...” the cat answered. “He's got his work cut out for him if he's got bombs underneath him and above him.” he commented.  
“Jūgo...” Kumi uttered, peering up at him weakly. “I know you want to go help him, I'm sorry...” she apologised, causing the redhead to frown.  
“Sasuke needs to prove to me he's as powerful as he says he is...” he replied, turning to look down at Kumi. “He's fine... and besides, I need to protect you.” he murmured, looking away again as she peered up at him with a blush forming up her cheeks.

Meanwhile the cat snorted to himself about the needless romantics.  
'Only teenagers could find a time like this to get romantic.' he quietly scoffed, hearing a massive explosion which took his attention yet again.  
“That was a big one...” the feline murmured, whilst Kumi tried to relocate Sasuke yet again amongst the aftermath of chakra penetrating the earth.  
“He's alive, but I think he took a direct hit that time.” she uttered, trying to look through the far bigger ball of smoke to see if she could see Sasuke.  
“He's missing a wing.” Jūgo commented, pondering if the Uchiha really was as strong as he seemed to think he was. Watching on the pair gasped as Sasuke flew into the air and used his rod of lightning to pierce the dragon's wing, chopping it off in the process and forcing the white beast to start to lose balance and teeter onto its side.  
“Go, Sasuke!” Kumi cheered, watching as he then used his two massive shuriken to pin the enemy to his dragon. From there the bomber hit the ground, setting off the landmines that had been hidden there. “Oh wow...” the Senju commented, watching everything go up in smoke and fire.  
“Please tell me the enemy didn't survive that?” the cat requested, watching Kumi frown as he came flying out through the clouds on a small clay bird.  
“No. No, he's alive.” she uttered, certain this guy might actually push Sasuke to his limits.

Confused the group began to watch as white clay came spewing out from the bomber's mouth, what exactly he was doing now they could not be certain of.  
“Enemy two is running away, fast...” Kumi commented, her gaze narrowing. “He's coming this way!” she stated, watching Jūgo get into a fighting position.  
“What is that thing!?” the cat questioned, seeing a giant had appeared from the bubbling up clay.  
“It looks like a giant... version of the enemy?” Jūgo uttered, glancing to Kumi.  
“We have to move, we have to run!” she started to shout in panic.  
“What, why?” the cat asked, being turned to face her when Jūgo turned to follow her.  
“The chakra flowing through that thing is bigger than anything he's used so far, if that thing detonates it'll get us too!” the young Senju explained, gasping when Jūgo picked her up and began to run in the opposite direction of the fight as fast as he could.  
“Tell me when we're far enough away.” the redhead stated, grunting as he leapt from branch to branch in the trees.  
“Jūgo.. at this rate... we wont get far enough...” Kumi uttered, having been forced to release her grip on the chakra she had been concentrating on now that she had been removed from the earth.

Hissing the cat dug its claws further into Jūgo.  
“Run faster, you fool!” he screeched, his eyes wide and his fangs bared in horror.  
“I'm trying.” Jūgo answered simply, holding Kumi tighter to his chest. 'Dammit, I'm not fast enough...' he groaned, cursing when the cat stated that the bloody bomb was actually walking towards them now. Soon it began to expand and then explode, however nothing actually happened, causing Jūgo to grind to a halt.  
“Did it misfire?” the cat questioned, giving the horizon a strange look.  
“Jugo, put me down, I need to protect us.” Kumi uttered, while the teen gave her a confused look as he did as he was told.  
“D-Did those birds just disintegrate?” the cat asked, having been watching the sky at the time.  
Using all of her concentration Kumi created a sphere of wood around them and dragged them deep under the ground, her hands being consumed by the wood she had created as she did so.  
“Kumi, are you okay?” Jūgo questioned, unable to see her through the darkness.  
“Y-Yes...” she struggled to speak, waiting for the mass of chakra to dissipate.  
“What happened to those birds?” Jūgo questioned, his brow furrowed.  
“The bomb was somehow invisible.” Kumi answered, not entirely sure what happened herself. “It destroyed every living thing around it, but it seems to have ignored the earth, wood and plants.” she then tried to explain, however in truth she was not entirely sure how that technique functioned.

Resurfacing the ball, using four tiny legs, Kumi, very carefully, created a small hatch to look outside with, a weird contraption that took the attention of a hidden enemy.  
“Huh?” he questioned, watching as two people and a cat then climbed out. “They must be Sasuke's friends...” the ebony haired man commented, watching them quietly.  
“You sure it's safe?” the cat asked, looking around nervously.  
“Oi, oi!” they heard someone shout, their heads whipping round to see the enemy, who had been running away, had found them. About to attack him Kumi put her arm up to stop Jūgo, his angry expression turning down to look at her as she shook her head. “You look terrible!” the man then uttered, observing the woman who looked like she had just been the one fighting Deidara.  
“Who are you?” Kumi questioned, finally gaining the strength to stand up straight.  
“I could ask you the same thing.” he answered, looking between them. “You're Sasuke's friends, no?” he asked, watching the woman looked back towards where the fight had been going on.  
“Kumi, don't, your chakra is-” the cat uttered, watching her begin to concentrate again.  
“Hmm, Kumi?” the man uttered, putting a finger to his mask in thought.

After a moment of silence the dark-cloaked man then burst into life, snapping his fingers as he went.  
“Ohhh, Tobi remembers now!” he acknowledged. “You're the woman that went missing two years ago!” he uttered. “Kumi... Kumi...” he then began to think. “Kumi Senju!” he gasped, grabbing both sides of his mask whilst Jūgo and the cat stared at him. Why exactly had Kumi made them avoid getting into a fight with this idiot?  
“I can't sense Sasuke.” the young woman murmured.  
“Ohh, Sasuke wont have survived Senpai's C4 explosion!” the man stated in an apologetic fashion.  
“What exactly happened just now? Nothing's destroyed but the animals are dead...” Kumi murmured, looking around to make sure that were the case.  
“Tobi shouldn't divulge his Senpai's secrets but...” the man uttered, giving it a bit of thought. “Senpai's C4 explosion released tiny, nano-sized explosives out into the air, which the animals and Sasuke breathed in. Once they enter the body the explosives are set off internally, destroying the victim's entire body.” he explained, to which Kumi narrowed her gaze.

Giving it a little thought the young woman decided that did sound about right, however that did make her worry that Sasuke really had been killed in the aftermath.  
“A frightening jutsu.” the man agreed, seeing the rather troubled look on all of their faces. “Don't worry, Tobi is sure Sasuke died a painless-” he then went on to reassure them before stopping when the cat spoke up.  
“Wait...” the cat uttered, sniffing the air. “I smell him.” he stated, whilst Kumi squeaked when Jūgo plucked her back off of the ground.  
“Let's go!” he hastily stated, running back towards their vantage point.  
“W-Wait, smell who!?” the man questioned, running after them in a comedic fashion.  
“J-Jūgo...” Kumi stammered, looking up at him wearily.  
“Yeah?” he asked, keeping his eyes on where they were going.  
“Whatever you do... Don't attack that man.” she requested, clutching at his cloak weakly.  
“Why?” he asked, aware that he was following them.  
“While I was checking for Sasuke I did a closer examination of that man... He's not what he appears.” she explained, beginning to breathe a bit heavier than before.  
“I see.” the redhead murmured, nodding his head. “I wont attack him unless necessary.” he promised, sliding to a halt at their previous location.

Skidding to a halt himself the man swung his arms to stop himself falling off the edge of the cliff.  
“Whoa!” he gasped, stilling to look down before he began to peer through the hole of his mask, with a hand above it, out across the tree tops. “Oh! I see Deidara.” the man called, pointing to his senpai.  
“But where's Sasuke...” the cat murmured, finally spotting him as he came hurtling towards 'Deidara' from behind.  
“He's alive... Thank goodness.” Kumi sighed, going back to resting her eyes as Jūgo set her down on the ground as per her request.  
“Aw, I can't see what's going on from here.” the bouncy masked man complained, only really able to see Sasuke standing on top of the bird with Deidara.  
“I wouldn't want to be any closer if that guy decides to set off a secondary C4...” the cat murmured, however from what he could tell the bomber had used up a lot of his chakra by now.  
A few minutes later Kumi glanced at the black cloaked man who had come to crouch beside her, his hand poking the fake cat ears on her head.  
“Hmm, Tobi likes your hat.” he commented, having turned his attention to them since he was not able to see the fight in the distance. Hearing the big guy growl slightly Tobi went hurtling backwards onto his ass in the near distance. “Your friend is scary!” he gasped, lifting one of his hands up in defence.  
“Don't get so close to her...” the redhead warned him, one of his hands growing in size to rest just by her head.  
“Tobi was just complementing her!” he defended himself.  
“It's okay... Jūgo.” the young woman murmured, lifting her arm to stroke his calf.  
“Tsk...” the redhead spat, his hand slowly returning to normal.

Off in the distance the group could see Deidara beginning to expand again.  
“Here comes another explosion.” the cat commented, wondering if this guy would ever exhaust his various explosive techniques.  
“Why are you attacking Sasuke?” Kumi questioned to the man still sitting across the ground from them.  
“He pissed off Deidara, so he wanted his revenge before Itachi can get him.” Tobi explained.  
“You guys work with Itachi?” she asked, her gaze narrowing. “Wait, are you in the Akatsuki?” the young Senju questioned.  
“Yeah, we are! So you've heard of us?” the man uttered, looking rather proud of himself.  
'If Deidara is putting up this much of a fight then Itachi must be a lot stronger.' Kumi acknowledged. 'Sasuke will need to really toughen up for when that fight comes.' she inwardly uttered, not sure the Uchiha was entirely ready to exact revenge on his brother.

Examining the white haired woman Tobi slowly tilted his head to the side, was she cursed too?  
“How come you aren't helping Sasuke?” he asked curiously.  
“He needs to prove he's strong.” Jūgo replied simply, to which Kumi nodded slowly.  
“If he can't kill this guy he's not got a chance against his brother.” the cat admitted, unable to actually see what was going on now that the bomber had vanished into the thick forest.  
“They're both alive.” Kumi murmured, having gone back to concentrating on their chakra signals. “They're talking though.” he huffed.  
“You humans talk too much.” the feline sighed, closing his eyes to rest them since there was nothing to watch.  
“They're both at their limits...” the young woman informed them, able to easily sense their chakra drained bodies.  
“I guess throwing words is all they have left.” the cat muttered sleepily.

Waiting for any changes Kumi's expression slowly began to tense.  
“Wait.” she uttered, staggering to her feet as Tobi watched her and Jūgo turned to look. “Something bad is happening.” she acknowledged, trying to figure out what. “It's another-” she uttered, able to feel the increasing level of chakra coming from down below in the forest. “Shit.” she spoke. “We wont be able to outrun that...” she commented, causing the cat to tense up.  
“What? What?!” it screeched, turning to look at her from Jūgo's shoulder.  
“Huuu, is Senpai using his ultimate technique?!” Tobi questioned, drumming himself into a panic now too.  
“Whatever Deidara's going to do it's going to be massive.” Kumi commented, looking up at Jūgo.  
“Jūgo...” she uttered, falling to her knees. “Forgive me.” she uttered, to which he went to pick her up and tell her it was fine before tensing when he felt the earth grab his feet.  
“Kumi, what are you-” the redhead questioned, looking around himself in shock when a massive dome of wood came up and snapped shut around him.

Within seconds it began seeping back into the earth, taking Jūgo deep in the ground and far enough away from the sea-level radius of the bomb.  
“Dammit.” she grunted, falling onto her side once the technique had been completed. “Y-You should run too. You might escape...” the young woman uttered, pulling herself up onto her knees to peer at the ebony haired man. Stood there, eerily silent, the man came towards her as the explosion erupted in the distance and came travelling towards them at a ridiculous speed. Feeling him touch her as the area around her began to grow bright and blinding Kumi instinctually grasped onto him and squeezed her eyes shut, absolutely terrified by what might be waiting for her on the other side.  
Numbing silence soon took Kumi's ears while her body became weightless, her calm expression remaining in place as she felt her entire world dissipate around her.  
'Am I dead?' she questioned, unable to open her eyes due to the light. 'It's so quiet...' she thought to herself. 'So quiet...' she reiterated, feeling weight slowly beginning to come back to her body. Far from the destruction everyone had been running towards where the blinding light had been in the distance, while Jūgo and the cat resurfaced from below the earth now that it was safe. Punching his fist through the strong, thick wall of the wooden prison Jūgo and the cat gulped in fresh air as they dragged themselves out into the open, the pair looking around them to take in all the devastation left in the bombs wake.  
“Kumi!” Jūgo began shouting, twisting his head from left to right in panic. “Kumi!” he shouted again, his eyebrows beginning to tremble.  
“Kumi! Sasuke!” the cat shouted with him, having separated to walk at a slight distance to check the opposite side of the crater.  
“I can't smell either of them.” the feline apologised, meeting back up with Jūgo in the centre.  
“Kumi... Sasuke...” the redhead uttered, his hands shaking as he balled them up into fists.

Leaving the crater Jūgo began to head towards Suigetsu, his path leading him to Karin who was also on her way towards him. Once they had gotten to his location the pair were thankful to finally spot Sasuke who was alive and well along side him, the snake, Manda, however, had not fared so well and was laying dead on his side.  
“I figured you'd be here!” Karin shouted, running towards them at top speed. “Your chakra suddenly disappeared, so I wondered what had happened! Did you transport yourself?” she questioned, having been incredibly worried about the Uchiha's well-being.  
“You hid yourself inside Manda then used the Transportation Technique to escape into another dimension... So why are you in such a bad shape?” Suigetsu questioned.  
“Just before escaping we both got hit by the blast wave, my opponent was one of the Akatsuki. He was stronger than I expected...” the Uchiha replied, panting as he did so.  
'Sasuke all cut up and bruised is also hot...' Karin quietly thought to herself.  
“Where's Kumi?” the Uchiha asked, causing the redhead's loving expression to vanish into irritation.

Looking at the ground Jūgo did not respond, leaving the cat to explain.  
“We were watching you fight from a distance. When Deidara released his final technique Kumi sacrificed herself to save us both since we had no chance of out running the explosion.” the feline explained.  
“I see...” the Uchiha uttered, sad to see he had already lost one of his members already. “At least you're alive, Jūgo.” he then uttered, trying to see the brighter side of the situation.  
“That Tobi guy is probably dead as well, he wouldn't have out ran the blast either...” the cat commented, feeling rather sad that Kumi's last seconds of life were spent with an idiot of the enemy faction.  
“At any rate, he needs time to rest.” Suigetsu commented, seeing just how bad Sasuke really was. He could barely stand.  
“Pathetic! You call yourself the guy who killed Orochimaru?” Karin butted in, giving him an angry look.  
“Orochimaru was already weakened to begin with...” Sasuke answered simply.

Elsewhere, within the Country of Rain, a man was sitting on the head of a statue, his eyes gazing out across the city in silence.  
“Pein, come inside, he's here.” a female requested, gaining the redhead's attention. Getting up the man wandered back across the statue and entered the building half way, his gaze coming down upon a figure looming in the shadows.  
“And... what of Sasuke?” Pein asked, gazing upon the man.  
“He's coming along nicely, he was using the Sharingan's power to his fullest.” the shadowed figure informed them calmly. “His eyes will surpass Itachi's... The time has come, he must be ready as well. After all, he doesn't have much time.” he commented.  
“Then what about the Nine-Tails?” Pein questioned, stepping forward slightly.  
“You hunt it. As leader failure is not an option.” the figure draped in shadows uttered. “With that in mind...” the figure then commented, moving out of the way to reveal a woman laying limp in a pool of light behind him. “I have selected this woman as a replacement for Deidara, though his demise was unfortunate our organisation must continue.” he informed them, watching as Pein and Konan lowered their gazes towards the woman.


End file.
